cliffyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[cliff 词源字典]
cliff: [OE] Cliff comes from a prehistoric Germanic *kliban, of unknown origin (German klippe ‘crag’ is a collateral relative). The compound cliffhanger seems to have originated in the USA in the 1930s; it comes from the serial movies then popular, in which at the end of each episode the hero or heroine was left in some perilous situation, such as hanging off the edge of a cliff, not resolved until the next instalment.
[cliff etymology, cliff origin, 英语词源]
cliff (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English clif "rock, promontory, steep slope," from Proto-Germanic *kliban (cognates: Old Saxon clif, Old Norse klif, Middle Dutch klippe, Dutch klip, Old High German klep, German Klippe "cliff, promontory, steep rock").

Clift has been a variant spelling since 15c. and was common in early Modern English, influenced by or merged with clift, a variant of cleft (n.). Cliff-dweller first attested 1889, American English.