• adj. 秘密的；鬼鬼祟祟的；暗中的

可能來自 sur-,在下，-rept,爬，詞源同 reptile,爬行動物。引申詞義秘密的，偷偷摸摸的。

surreptitious

surreptitious: [15] Latin surreptītius meant ‘taken away secretly’. It was formed from the past participle of surripere ‘take away secretly’, a compound verb formed from the prefix sub- ‘under’, hence ‘secretly’, and rapere ‘seize’ (source of English rape, rapture, etc). English acquired surreptitious direct from the Latin adjective.
=> rape, rapture, ravenous

surreptitious (adj.)

mid-15c., from Latin surrepticius "stolen, furtive, clandestine," from surreptus, past participle of surripere "seize secretly, take away, steal, plagiarize," from assimilated form of sub "from under" (hence, "secretly;" see sub-) + rapere "to snatch" (see rapid). Related: Surreptitiously.

1. She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch.

她偷偷看了一眼手表。

來自《權威詞典》

2. His surreptitious behaviour naturally aroused suspicion.

他那鬼鬼祟祟的行為自然引起了旁人的懷疑.

來自《現代英漢綜合大詞典》

3. He made a surreptitious entrance to the club through the little door in the brick wall.

他從磚墻的小門偷偷進入俱樂部。

來自柯林斯例句

4. They had several surreptitious conversations.

他們有過幾次秘密會談。

來自辭典例句

5. Such surreptitious bypassing of Standlely was distasteful.

這種偷偷摸摸的繞過斯坦德萊的做法令人厭惡.

來自辭典例句