Etymologically
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claw

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /klɔː/[1]

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
  • 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