close

close · verb, noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kleh₂w-“key, hook, nail”
2. Latin · derived fromclausus“shut up”
3. Old French · derived fromclos“close, confined”
4. Middle English · inherited fromclos“close, shut up, confined, secret”
5. Old English · inherited fromclȳsan“to close, shut”
6. Middle English · inherited fromclusen“to close”
7. Middle English · inherited fromclosen“to close, enclose”
8. English todayclose

From Middle English closen (“to close, enclose”), partly continuing (in altered form) earlier Middle English clusen (“to close”) from Old English clȳsan (“to close, shut”); compare beclose, foreclose, etc.), and partly derived from Middle English clos (“close, shut up, confined, secret”, adjective), from Old French clos (“close, confined”, adjective), from Latin clausus (“shut up”, past participle), from claudō (“to bar, block, close, enclose, bring an end to, confine”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂w- (“key, hook, nail”), related to Latin clāvis (“key, deadbolt, bar”), clāvus (“nail, peg”), claustrum (“bar, bolt, barrier”), claustra (“dam, wall, barricade, stronghold”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κλείω (kleíō), κλείς (kleís, “bar, bolt, key”), Russian заключи́ть (zaključítʹ) (via ключ (ključ)), German schließen (“to close, conclude, lock”), Dutch sluiten (“to close, conclude, lock”). Partially replaced Old English lūcan (“to close, lock, enclose”), (whence English lock). Doublet of clause.

close · adjective, adverb, noun²

1. Latin · derived fromclausum
2. French · borrowed fromclos
3. English todayclose

Borrowed from French clos, from Latin clausum, participle of claudō.

Words from the same roots