*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of overt

From Middle English overt, uverte (“open, uncovered; unfastened; accessible, unobstructed; clear, manifest”), from Anglo-Norman overt, Middle French ouvert, Old French overt, ouvert, uvert (“opened”) (modern French ouver

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

An action or condition said to be detrimental to one’s own survival and thus unethical; the consciousness of such behaviour.

adj

Open and not concealed or secret. · Disclosed.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English overt, uverte (“open, uncovered; unfastened; accessible, unobstructed; clear, manifest”), from Anglo-Norman overt, Middle French ouvert, Old French overt, ouvert, uvert (“opened”) (modern French ouvert), past participle of Anglo-Norman, Old French ovrir, ouvrir, uvrir (“to open”), from Late Latin operire, variant of Latin aperīre (“to open”), from aperiō (“to open, uncover”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away; from”) + *h₂wer- (“to cover, shut”). The English word is a doublet of apert and ouvert.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "overt"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English overt"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "xno",
        "3": "overt"
      },
      "expansion": "Anglo-Norman overt"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "frm",
        "3": "ouvert"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle French ouvert"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "overt"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French overt"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "ouvert"
      },
      "expansion": "French ouvert"
    },
    {
      "name": "glossary",
      "args": {
        "1": "past"
      },
      "expansion": "past"
    },
    {
      "name": "glossary",
      "args": {
        "1": "participle"
      },
      "expansion": "participle"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "xno",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Anglo-Norman"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "ovrir"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French ovrir"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la-lat",
        "3": "operire"
      },
      "expansion": "Late Latin operire"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "aperīre",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to open"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin aperīre (“to open”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*h₂epó",
        "4": "",
        "5": "away; from"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away; from”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "apert",
        "3": "ouvert",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "doublet of apert and ouvert"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "overt",
      "overt#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "uverte",
      "uverte#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "overt",
      "overt#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "ouvert",
      "ouvert#Middle_French"
    ],
    [
      "overt",
      "overt#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "ouvert",
      "ouvert#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "uvert",
      "uvert#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "ouvert",
      "ouvert#French"
    ],
    [
      "ovrir",
      "ovrir#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "ouvrir",
      "ouvrir#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "uvrir",
      "uvrir#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "operire",
      "operire#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "aperīre",
      "aperire#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "aperiō",
      "aperio#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "*h₂epó",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂epó"
    ],
    [
      "*h₂wer-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂wer-"
    ],
    [
      "apert",
      "apert#English"
    ],
    [
      "ouvert",
      "ouvert#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "An action or condition said to be detrimental to one’s own survival and thus unethical; the consciousness of such behaviour."
      ],
      "tags": [],
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 283531
    },
    {
      "pos": "adj",
      "glosses": [
        "Open and not concealed or secret.",
        "Disclosed."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "recordId": "3459de20b63d69fc90292b910869d524774bba9c55500972ebf0a09639be1028",
      "rawRecordSha256": "21fffd521bd1c954281c7fd0f95e216c7175334d5ff6fb4e23e585f396be0231",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 283530
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for overt →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-b3ZlcnQ