clueyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[clue 词源字典]
clue: [15] Clue is a variant spelling of the now obsolete clew ‘ball of thread’, and its current application to ‘that which helps to solve a problem’, which originated in the early 17th century, is based on the notion of using (like Theseus in the Minotaur’s labyrinth) a ball of thread to show one the way out of an intricate maze one has entered. Clew itself goes back to Old English cliwan or cleowan, which may be related to claw.
=> claw[clue etymology, clue origin, 英语词源]
clue (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1590s, spelling variant of clew "a ball of thread or yarn," in this sense with reference to the one Theseus used as a guide out of the Labyrinth. The purely figurative sense of "that which points the way" is from 1620s. As something which a bewildered person does not have, by 1948.
clue (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"to inform someone of the important facts," usually with in, 1934, from clue (n.). Related: Clued; cluing. Earlier in now-obsolete sense of "follow or track by clues" (1660s). In nautical use, "to haul up (a sail) by means of the clue-lines," from clue (n.) in the "wound ball of yarn" sense.