Deidentify

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Strip personal details such as names and addresses from records so that the individuals they describe cannot be recognized
2. Remove information that could reveal who a person is from a dataset or document to protect their privacy
3. Take out identifying markers from data or files so that the people referenced in them remain anonymous

Etymology: "Deidentify" is a plain formation: the prefix "de-", meaning "remove" or "reverse," attached to "identify." The prefix comes from Latin "de," which in English words usually signals taking something away, as in "defrost" or "decode." "Identify" itself comes from Late Latin "identificare," built from Latin "idem" ("the same") and "-ficare," from "facere" ("to make"). So to identify something originally meant to make it the same as something already known, that is, to establish that it is a particular person or thing. Adding "de-" reverses that act: deidentifying data means stripping out the details that would reveal who it belongs to, leaving the record without a name attached.

Synonyms: anonymize, anonymise, depersonalize

Antonyms: identify