Etymology

claw

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Today it means: A curved, pointed, horny projection on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird. Full definition →

Middle English clawe ← Old English clawu ← Proto-Germanic *klawō
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claw · noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*klawō
  2. Old English · inherited fromclawu
  3. Middle English · inherited fromclawe
  4. English todayclaw

From Middle English clawe, from Old English clawu, from Proto-Germanic *klawō. Compare West Frisian klau, Dutch klauw, German Klaue, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish klo.

claw · verb2

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*klawēn
  2. Old English · inherited fromclawian
  3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*klawjaną
  4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*klauwjan
  5. Old English · inherited fromclawan
  6. Middle English · inherited fromclawen
  7. English todayclaw

From Middle English clawen, from a combination of Old English clawan/clāwan (a remodelling of *clīeġan, from Proto-West Germanic *klauwjan, from Proto-Germanic *klawjaną) and Old English clawian (from Proto-West Germanic *klawēn).

Claw · proper noun3

  1. Navajo · borrowed fromClaw
  2. English todayClaw

Borrowed from Navajo Claw, variant of Clah.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.