英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

clepe (v.)[clepe 词源字典]: "to call; to name" (archaic), from Old English cleopian, clipian "to speak, call; summon, invoke; implore."[clepe etymology, clepe origin, 英语词源]
clepsydra (n.): "ancient Greek water clock," 1640s, from Latinized form of Greek klepsydra, from stem of kleptein "to steal, to hide" (see kleptomania) + hydor "water" (see water (n.1)).
cleptomaniac (n.): Latinized variant of kleptomaniac. Related: cleptomania.
clerestory (n.): early 15c., probably from clere "clear," in a sense "light, lighted" (see clear (adj.)), and story (n.2), though this sense of that word is not otherwise found so early. Originally the upper part of the nave, transepts, and choir of a large church; so called because pierced with windows. Related: Clerestorial.
clergy (n.): c. 1200, clergie "office or dignity of a clergyman," from two Old French words: 1. clergié "clerics, learned men," from Medieval Latin clericatus, from Late Latin clericus (see clerk (n.)); 2. clergie "learning, knowledge, erudition," from clerc, also from Late Latin clericus. Meaning "persons ordained for religious work" is from c. 1300.
clergyman (n.): 1570s, from clergy + man (n.).
clergywoman (n.): 1670s, a nun, from clergy + man (n.). Not seriously as "woman pastor" until 1871; in between it was used humorously for "old woman" or "domineering wife of a clergyman." Compare clergyman.
cleric (n.): 1620s (also in early use as an adjective), from Church Latin clericus "clergyman, priest," noun use of adjective meaning "priestly, belonging to the clerus;" from Ecclesiastical Greek klerikos "pertaining to an inheritance," but in Greek Christian jargon by 2c., "of the clergy, belonging to the clergy," as opposed to the laity; from kleros "a lot, allotment; piece of land; heritage, inheritance," originally "a shard or wood chip used in casting lots," related to klan "to break" (see clastic).

Kleros was used by early Greek Christians for matters relating to ministry, based on Deut. xviii:2 reference to Levites as temple assistants: "Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lord is their inheritance," kleros being used as a translation of Hebrew nahalah "inheritance, lot." Or else it is from the use of the word in Acts i:17. A word taken up in English after clerk (n.) shifted to its modern meaning.
clerical (adj.): 1590s, "pertaining to the clergy," from cleric + -al (1), or from French clérical, from Old French clerigal "learned," from Latin clericalis, from clericus (see cleric). Meaning "pertaining to clerks" is from 1798.
clerihew (n.): humorous verse form, 1928, from English humorist Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956), who described it in a book published 1906 under the name E. Clerihew.
clerisy (n.): 1818, on model of German clerisei, from Late Latin clericia, related to clericus (see cleric); coined by Coleridge "to express a notion no longer associated with CLERGY" [OED].
clerk (n.): "man ordained in the ministry," c. 1200, from Old English cleric and Old French clerc "clergyman, priest; scholar, student," both from Church Latin clericus "a priest," noun use of adjective meaning "priestly, belonging to the clerus" (see cleric).

Modern bureaucratic usage is a reminder of the dark ages when clergy alone could read and write and were employed for that skill by secular authorities. In late Old English the word can mean "king's scribe; keeper of accounts;" by c. 1200 clerk took on a secondary sense in Middle English (as the cognate word did in Old French) of "anyone who can read or write." This led to the sense "assistant in a business" (c. 1500), originally a keeper of accounts, later, especially in American English, "a retail salesman" (1790). Related: Clerkship.
clerk (v.): "act as a clerk," 1550s, from clerk (n.). Related: Clerked, clerking.
cleromancy (n.): "divination by dice," c. 1600, from French cléromancie, from Latinized form of Greek kleros "lot" (see clerk (n.)) + manteia "oracle, divination" (see -mancy).
Cleveland: city in Ohio, U.S., laid out 1796 by Gen. Moses Cleaveland (1754-1806) and later named for him. His descendants included U.S. President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908). The family name is from place names in England based on Middle English cleove, a variant of cliff.
clever (adj.): 1580s, "handy, dexterous," apparently from East Anglian dialectal cliver "expert at seizing," perhaps from East Frisian klüfer "skillful," or Norwegian dialectic klover "ready, skillful," and perhaps influenced by Old English clifer "claw, hand" (early usages seem to refer to dexterity). Or perhaps akin to Old Norse kleyfr "easy to split" and from a root related to cleave "to split." Extension to intellect is first recorded 1704.
This is a low word, scarcely ever used but in burlesque or conversation; and applied to any thing a man likes, without a settled meaning. [Johnson, 1755]
The meaning has narrowed since, but clever also often in old use and dialect meant "well-shaped, attractive-looking" and in 19c. American English sometimes "good-natured, agreeable." Related: Cleverly; cleverness.
clevis (n.): "U-shaped iron bar with holes for a bolt or pin, used as a fastener," 1590s, of unknown origin, perhaps from the root of cleave (v.2). Also uncertain is whether it is originally a plural or a singular.
clew (n.): "ball of thread or yarn," northern English and Scottish relic of Old English cliewen "sphere, ball, skein, ball of thread or yarn," probably from West Germanic *kleuwin (cognates: Old Saxon cleuwin, Dutch kluwen), from Proto-Germanic *kliwjo-, from PIE *gleu- "gather into a mass, conglomerate" (see clay).
cliche (n.): 1825, "electrotype, stereotype," from French cliché, a technical word in printer's jargon for "stereotype block," noun use of past participle of clicher "to click" (18c.), supposedly echoic of the sound of a mold striking molten metal. Figurative extension to "trite phrase, worn-out expression" is first attested 1888, following the course of stereotype. Related: Cliched (1928).
click (v.): 1580s, of imitative origin (compare Dutch and East Frisian klikken "to click; Old French clique "tick of a clock"). The figurative sense, in reference usually to persons, "hit it off at once, become friendly upon meeting" is from 1915, perhaps based on the sound of a key in a lock. Related: Clicked; clicking.