Etymology

cleat

C3L1E1A1T1

Today it means: A strip of wood or iron fastened on transversely to something in order to give strength, prevent warping, hold position, etc. Full definition →

Middle English clete ← Old English *clēat ← Proto-West Germanic *klaut
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gelewd-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*klautaz“firm lump”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*klaut
  4. Old English · inherited from*clēat“block, wedge”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromclete
  6. English todaycleat

From Middle English clete, from Old English *clēat (“block, wedge”), from Proto-West Germanic *klaut, from Proto-Germanic *klautaz (“firm lump”), from Proto-Indo-European *gelewd-, from *gley- (“to glue, stick together, form into a ball”). Cognate with Dutch kloot (“ball; testicle”) and German Kloß (“clump”). See also clay and clout.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.