latent
LAY-tuntadjMeaning present but hidden, or not yet active
Memory hook LATE-nt: there all along, it shows up LATE. Seeds sleep in the desert sand for years, then bloom late, after one rare rain; the flowers were latent there the whole time.
Lin had a latent gift for singing that no one discovered until the school musical.
In context The seeds lay latent in the dry desert soil for years; then a single heavy rain woke them, and the sand burst into bloom.
Similar dormant, potential, undeveloped, untapped
Opposite active, visible, manifest
From Latin latens, “lying hidden,” from latere (to lie hidden).