Pedants' corner: discreet and discrete are not interchangeable

[FuzzyPuffling]

Several times today on MN I have seen "discrete" being used instead of "discreet".

Different words, different meanings. Very irritating.

Tip for anyone who gets mixed up- when you’re being disCREEt, you CREEp around.

My pet hate too.
To be fair, my background is medical, and I learned the meaning of 'discrete' in that context..."a discrete lump". In medical terms it's used widely. Others may learn it differently, or not all all.
I am with you but I try not to judge!

I’m not sure people get mixed up exactly, I think a lot of people don’t know that ‘discrete’ is a separate concept (see what I did there).

Doesn’t help that this mistake turns up in allegedly quite educated contexts these days.

With a medical background I bet you love acute v chronic 😉

Yes, yes!

And...'Prostrate' for 'Prostate'!

I know there’s a difference but if one of those ones that I cannnever get to stick in my head. Sorry 😞

Discrete means the opposite of concrete.
But a lot of people seem not to know that it's a word in its own right.

Bare and bear - I see bare for bear so often I actually have to stop and think now about which it should be.

Casually and causally.

Thank you for this, OP, this is one of my biggest peeves. Discreet seems to be disappearing and being replaced with 'discrete', which I find ridiculous. Discreet is a far more common word - so why is it being wrongly replaced by a word that's much more rarely used?

Last time I commented on this, several people came on the thread to say that they didn't realise that discreet and discrete weren't the same thing....

Discrete means the opposite of concrete.

I don’t think it does!

@ViaRia01 Discrete means separate or distinct, referring to things that are individual or non-continuous
Discreet: Means unobtrusive or careful, especially in keeping things private or showing good judgment

The e's in discrete are separated by the t - it refers to separation.

Stomach instead of abdomen when describing abdominal pain.

Please may I add disinterested/uninterested.

And as for the people - I am looking at you, BBC journalists - who use underestimate when they mean overestimate, and vice versa, well, please don't underestimate my rage and frustration at this faux pas.

@endofthelinefinally , that's often used euphemistically for further along the digestive tract.

I know, but it wastes time and is misleading if 111 thinks you are complaining of stomach pain, when your pain is actually pelvic.

Dependent v dependant is a particular bugbear of mine.

Luckily or ignorantly I wouldn't know the proper terminology. However, if I wasn't face to face to be able to point, I think I would describe above or below belly button.

Ha ha, I was thinking about discrete and discreet today because there was a thread about getting changed by the side of the pool. Lots of people said this was fine, so long as you were "discrete". Argh!

See also uninterested v. disinterested. I've posted about this in Pedants' Corner before. Does 'disinterested' sound more posh, or something? Argh again!

I'm 50 and didn't realise/notice there was a second meaning and spelling until fairly recently, I only knew discreet.

Now I use both. Discretely!

If I was discussing it with 111 I'd be specific, but if it was a non-medical person, I'd say 'upset stomach' or something. Need to know and all that.

I'm an author and I've had someone use the phrase 'never fails to disappoint' about several of my books. She always gives me an excellent review and seems to love the books themselves, so I can only suppose that she's never actually looked at the words she's typing.

I've been in trouble this week because I pointed out that 'discreet' and 'discrete' are different. I'm trying to cope.

@upinaballoon ,who made you the language monitor? The person who made the mistake was obviously dyslexic or a second language speaker. Have you no self-awareness or empathy? Language evolves. That's why we aren't communicating in Shakespearian or middle English on here.

I'm trying to cope. Never mind you. What about the poor person you criticized? They're probably getting councilling for the PTSD.

"Counselling", surely? 😀