Clio

C3L1I1O1
/ˈklaɪ.oʊ//ˈkliː.oʊ/

proper noun

The goddess of history and heroic poetry, and one of the Muses; the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne.

Less commonScrabble 6

Meanings

proper noun
  1. Greekhuman sciencesThe goddess of history and heroic poetry, and one of the Muses; the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne.
  2. astronomy84 Klio, a main belt asteroid.
  3. A female given name from Ancient Greek.
  4. abbreviationellipsisautomotiveEllipsis of Renault Clio (“a model of car manufactured by Renault”).
  5. A city in Alabama.

    In 1891, he settled in tiny Clio, Alabama, a hamlet of 13 families founded after the Civil War without the antebellum pretensions of nearby Eufala.

    2010, Donald J. Green, Third-Party Matters: Politics, Presidents, and Third Parties in American History, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 63
  6. A city in Iowa.
nounClio (plural Clios)

plural Clios

  1. A statuette holding a globe given at the Clio Awards, an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication.

    One advertising executive recently predicted that content and advertising will be fully integrated and, “in the end, corporate clients will be happy, and the writers and actors won’t be able to tell an Emmy from a Clio.”

    2003 October 23, John Furia Jr., “Plot line: Drink Pepsi!”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC
    2 more examples

    [Al] Horvat landed the role of a ballplayer, wielding a huge baseball glove and mugging for the camera. “Three or four months later,” Horvat says, “the director calls me and says, ‘Al, you won a Clio.’ ‘Yeah?’ I say. ‘What’s a Clio?’ I have actors come in here all the time. They would die for that thing.”

    1991 December 1, Rochelle Levy, “The Tube”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Jun 2025

    In all there were 67 winners for 57 commercials in 53 categories, in both the product and production areas. Not only do agencies enter their commercials to be judged for creative excellence but so do companies involved in the various facets of production. So two outfits entering the same work can each take a Clio, as was the case with Federal Express. […] McCann-Erickson won both its Clios with one of its biggest clients, Coca-Cola.

    1981 June 15, Philip H. Dougherty, “Advertising; TV Spots Recognized With Clios”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2015
  2. automotiveA car of the Renault Clio model manufactured by Renault.

    Fred loved to take his Clio for a spin.

    3 more examples

    The world record is held by Terry Grant, who reverse-swerved his Renault into a slot only 32cm longer than the overall length of his car. Impressive stuff and it made me wonder what he could have pulled off with the Renaultsport 200 Cup – which, in case you hadn't spotted, is actually a Clio – with too few X chromosomes. It's exactly 20 years since the first Clio was produced – taking over the mantle of the much-loved Renault 5.

    2010 January 10, Martin Love, “Where the wild thing is”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Jun 2025

    Renault’s ad, after all, racked up millions of its views in the United States, a nation where its cars are not even for sale; and even if they were, why would viewers feel compelled to buy a Clio after watching a Clio ad that works so assiduously to avoid selling them a Clio until the last possible moment?

    2020 January 8, Jonah Weiner, “Is the Viral Non-Ad Ad the Future of Advertising?”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2020

    Polls at the time suggested that Nicole was more of a household name than John Major, Britain’s then Prime Minister, while 300,000 Clios were sold over the seven years the ads ran, also featuring Paris and the French Alps.

    2023 March 18, Peter Allen, Olga Cheng, “Papa...? Nicole...? MailOnline reunites the stars of classic 90s Renault Clio ads - who haven't seen each other in 25 YEARS”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2023

Origin

  1. Ancient GreekΚλειώ
  2. EnglishClio

From the Ancient Greek Κλειώ (Kleiṓ). The award and car model were named after the goddess.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek Κλειώ
  • Κλειώ (Kleiṓ)the Muse of history and heroic poetry
Bulgarian Клио
  • Клио (Klio)the Muse of history and heroic poetry
Czech Kleió
  • Kleióthe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Danish Klio
  • Kliothe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Finnish Kleio
  • Kleiothe Muse of history and heroic poetry
French Clio
  • Cliothe Muse of history and heroic poetry
German Klio
  • Kliothe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Hungarian Kleió, Clio
  • Kleióthe Muse of history and heroic poetry
  • Cliothe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Icelandic Klíó
  • Klíóthe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Italian Clio
  • Cliothe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Japanese クレイオー
  • クレイオー (Kureiō)the Muse of history and heroic poetry
Korean 클리오
  • 클리오 (Keullio)the Muse of history and heroic poetry
Latin Clīō
  • Clīōthe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Polish Klio
  • Kliothe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Portuguese Clio
  • Cliothe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Russian Клио
  • Клио (Klio)the Muse of history and heroic poetry
Spanish Clio
  • Cliothe Muse of history and heroic poetry
Swedish Klio
  • Kliothe Muse of history and heroic poetry

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Clio

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Clio. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Clio

MLA

“Clio.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Clio. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Clio,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Clio.

Source: Clio on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.