Middle English word cleven comes from Proto-Indo-European *gley-, Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ-, and later Proto-Germanic *kleubaną (To split, to cleave.)

Detailed word origin of cleven

Dictionary entry	Language	Definition
*gley-	Proto-Indo-European (ine-pro)	to stick, smudge, to stick
*glewbʰ-	Proto-Indo-European (ine-pro)	to split, separate, cleave, to split
*gleybʰ-	Proto-Indo-European (ine-pro)
*kleubaną	Proto-Germanic (gem-pro)	To split, to cleave.
*klībaną	Proto-Germanic (gem-pro)	To stick, cling to.
clēofan	Old English (ang)
cleofan	Old English (ang)	To cleave, to split.
*klibjaną	Proto-Germanic (gem-pro)	To stick, adhere.
clifian	Old English (ang)
cleven	Middle English (enm)

Words with the same origin as cleven