The origins of this word are a bit hugger-mugger themselves. Some linguists believe it was likely cobbled together from the word “huddle” (“to crowd together”) and the slang term “mucker” (“to hoard money, conceal”). Several terms, spanning from Late Middle English to the 16th century, share a similar construction and meaning: “hucker-mucker” and “hudder-mudder” both mean “secrecy, concealment.” To employ “hugger-mugger,” use it as either a noun or an adjective, representing secrecy or a sense of confusion and mess. For example, a mother might complain to her teenager: “The hugger-mugger mess in your bedroom makes me think you have some sort of hugger-mugger to hide.”