Etymology

clammy

C3L1A1M3M3Y4

Today it means: Cold and damp, usually referring to hands or palms. Full definition →

Old English clǣman
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromclǣman“to smear, bedaub”
  2. English todayclammy

From Middle English clam (“viscous, sticky; slimy”) + -y, from Old English clǣman (“to smear, bedaub”). Compare German klamm (“clammy”) and klemmen (“to be stuck, stick”). See also clam.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishclǣman all →

cleam

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.