cleven etymology

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 entryLanguageDefinition
*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

Descendants of *gley-
Claytone Cleyton clane clath clay clenliche clennesse cleove cleovien clevien cley clif clingen clivien clod clot cloth clothen cloud cloþes clud clude clyte forcleven
Descendants of *glewbʰ-
cleve clift cliven