claw

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English clawe,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English clawu (“claw, talon, hoof, hook”),^[5][6][7][8] a new nominative formed from the oblique cases (clawe); the older nominative was clēa, the source of the Middle English and dialect clee.^{[5][9][10][2][4]} The Old English word goes back to Proto-Germanic *klawō,^[6][2][11] and is related to Old Frisian klāwe (“claw, hoe”), Old Saxon clāuua, Middle Dutch klouwe, Dutch klauw, Old High German klāwa and German Klaue.^{[6][2][10][9]} Kroonen calls it an exclusively Germanic word, and takes Old Norse kló and a variant Old High German form from an ablaut variant Proto-Germanic *klōwō.^[11] Barnhart and Klein connect it with clew, a ball of thread, and Barnhart compares words outside Germanic, from an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *gleu-.^[2][12][4] The verb is inherited from Old English clawian (“to scratch, claw”), formed from the noun,^{[5][6][10][4]} and is related to Old High German klāwen, Dutch klauwen and German klauen;^[9][5][6] Orel calls the Germanic verb Proto-Germanic *klawjaną of unknown origin.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sharp horny nail on the foot of a bird or beast: the word is recorded in the Epinal Glossary,^[5] about 700 according to Barnhart.^[2] The Middle English form clawe appears about 1250, in The Owl and the Nightingale.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word could also mean a hoof or one half of a cloven hoof, a sense that lasted until 1661 and was shared with clee,^[5][7] and a hook or other contrivance like a claw, later also the forked back part of a hammer.^[5][7] Figurative use, as in the phrase in one's claws, implying seizure or power, is recorded from about 1386, in Chaucer.^[5] From 1577 the word was a contemptuous name for a hand,^[5][14] and Johnson (1755) defined it as the foot of a beast or bird armed with sharp nails, or the pincers of a shellfish.^[15][5] The botanical sense, the narrow base of a petal, dates from 1791.^[5] Etymonline dates claw-hammer to 1769 and claw-foot, of carved furniture legs, to 1823.^[6] The verb meant to scratch or tear in Old English;^[5] from about 1320 it also meant scratching gently, to relieve itching or as a comfort,^[5][10] a sense that gave the phrase to claw the back of someone, to flatter or fawn upon him (about 1394), and claw alone in the sense "flatter".^[5][6] A clawback was a flatterer in the 1540s;^[6] the modern claw back, to regain with great effort, or to take back money by taxation, dates from 1953.^[6][5] In Scots the noun was used figuratively for a hand, clutch or hold.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 700 – the claw of a bird or beast; also a hoof (obsolete by 1661).^[5][2]
• Old English – verb, to scratch or tear with claws.^[5]
• c. 1250 – Middle English clawe.^[2]
• c. 1320 – verb, to scratch gently, to soothe.^[5]
• c. 1386 – figurative, in one's claws.^[5]
• c. 1394 – to claw the back of, to flatter.^[5]
• 1577 – a hand, in contempt.^[5]
• 1769 – claw-hammer.^[6]
• 1791 – in botany, the narrow base of a petal.^[5]
• 1953 – claw back, to regain with great effort.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sharp, curved, horny nail at the end of a toe of a bird, reptile or mammal: the cat's claws.^[17][4][5]
2. The pincer of a crab, lobster or similar animal.^[17][4]
3. Something like a claw in shape or use, such as the forked end of a hammer used for pulling nails.^[17][4][5]
4. (botany) The narrow base of some petals and sepals.^[17][5]

Verb

1. To scratch, tear, seize or dig with claws or nails: The dog clawed at the back door.^[17][4][5]
2. To make one's way with great effort, as if with claws: She clawed her way back into the race.^[4][5]
3. claw back: to regain something gradually or with great effort; to take back money already paid, as by taxation.^[5][6]
4. (chiefly Scottish) To scratch gently, so as to relieve itching.^[4][10][5]
5. (obsolete except in dialect) To flatter or fawn upon.^[5][10]

Word family

• clawed
• clawlike
• clawer
• clawless
• catclaw
• declaw
• claw hammer
• bear claw

Related words

• clew
• clee
• cloot

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
14. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins