taciturn (taciturnity = noun)
adjective

- reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little

Oxford English Dictionaries

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WORD ORIGIN

“Taciturn”, from 1771, derives from the noun “taciturnity”, from the adjective “tacit”, which stems from the French tacite and Latin tacitus, meaning “something that is passed over in silence, done without words, assumed, silent”

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CALVIN COOLIDGE — MAN OF FEW WORDS

There are plenty of real-life taciturn figures in history. One of the better known in American history is former U.S. president Calvin Coolidge, or “Silent Cal” as he was called behind his back. He was a man of few words.

One meanwhile famous story describes a “conversation” between Coolidge and writer Dorothy Parker, who said to him, “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you.” His famous reply: “You lose.”

Upon learning that Coolidge had died, Parker also reportedly remarked, “How can they tell?”

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SYNONYMS

- reserved or uncommunicative in speech

aloof, antisocial, arctic, asocial, bereft of speech, buttoned up, cagey, chilly, clamlike, clammed up, clam-tongued, close-lipped (-mouthed), cold (as ice, blooded, -eyed, fish), cryptic, curt, dour, emotionless, expressionless, frosty, glacial, grave, grim, guarded, impassive, inscrutable, insensible, insular, laconic, marble, mum, mute, non-communicative, nonvocal, not forthcoming (talkative), of few words, offhand, offish, on the QT, passive, peaceful, phlegmatic, placid, po-faced, poker-faced, reticent, silentious, sphinx-like, standoffish, stolid, sullen, TACITURN, tight-mouthed, tightlipped, uncommunicative, unforthcoming, unresponsive, untalkative, unsocial, unspeaking, voiceless, withdrawn, wordless, zipped

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Can you imagine a TACITURN person and a chatterbox being stranded on a deserted island? I wonder how that story would end!”

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