What stays pointers, never contents — keys and credentials, held in .env files, referenced everywhere, exposed nowhere.
Latin secretus (set apart, hidden), from secernere (se- apart + cernere, to separate, sift); a secret was first a thing sifted out and kept from the rest.
What is never written as content, only pointed to — kept in one place, referenced everywhere it is needed, and shown nowhere it is not.