means Belonging to or concerning one particular person or group rather than the public, and meant to be kept from general knowledge or access.

from From Latin privatus, 'withdrawn from public life, belonging to oneself,' the past participle of privare, 'to deprive or set apart.' The same root gives us 'deprive' and 'privilege' — a reminder that being private originally meant being separated from the shared world, for better or worse. It entered English through the late Middle Ages, when something 'private' was set apart from the realm of the king and the crowd.