The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gley-“to adhere to, stick”
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*klaiþōną“to clothe”
- Old English · inherited from*clāþian“to clothe”
- Middle English · inherited fromclothen
- English todayclothe
From Middle English clothen, from Old English *clāþian (“to clothe”), from Proto-Germanic *klaiþōną (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (“to adhere to, stick”). Cognate with Dutch kleden, German kleiden, Swedish kläda, after apocope klä. See also cloth, clad.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*gley- all →
cleanclimbcleadcleam
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.