Etymology

clem

C3L1E1M3

Today it means: To be hungry; starve. Full definition →

Middle English *clemmen ← Old English clemman ← Proto-West Germanic *klammjan
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clem · verb1

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*klammjan“to squeeze”
  2. Old English · inherited fromclemman
  3. Middle English · inherited from*clemmen
  4. English todayclem

Inherited from Middle English *clemmen, *clammen, from Old English clemman, clæmman (“to press, surround”), from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan (“to squeeze”). Cognate with Dutch klemmen (“to jam, pinch, stick”), German klemmen (“to jam, clamp; to be stuck, stick [to a surface]”).

clem · noun2

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*klaim
  2. Old English · inherited fromclām“paste, mortar, mud, clay, poultice”
  3. English todayclem

From Old English clām (“paste, mortar, mud, clay, poultice”), from Proto-West Germanic *klaim, equivalent to cloam. Similar linguistic development led to the Northumbrian pronunciation of hyem, equivalent to the RP home.

Clem · proper noun3

Shortening.

Words from the same roots

Proto-West Germanic*klammjan all →

glomglaum

Old Englishclām all →

clemmycloam

Proto-West Germanic*klaim all →

cloam

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.