Uncloak comes from un- (reversative prefix) + cloak, from Old North French cloque ('cloak, traveling cape'), from Medieval Latin clocca ('traveler's cape', literally 'bell', from the garment's shape). The historical chain includes Old English un-, Old French cloque, and Latin clocca. The quoted older senses, "cloak, traveling cape", "traveler", ", literally", and ", from the garment", supply the semantic anchors for uncloak. The formation is best read as prefixal, compound, and borrowed: the word uncloak carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a verb, "to remove a cloak from; to reveal or expose". Related English forms include cloak, cloaked, and unmask. The result is a verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.