clean

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kliːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English clene (“clear, pure”),^[2][3] inherited from Old English clǣne (“free from dirt; morally pure; clear”),^[4][3] from Proto-West Germanic *klainja- (“clear, pure”),^[4][5] the source also of Old Saxon klēni “dainty, delicate”, Old Frisian klēne “small” and Old High German kleini “delicate, fine, small” (German klein “small”).^[4][3] English keeps the original sense “clear, pure” more closely than the other modern languages.^[5][4] Barnhart and Etymonline connect it with Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“bright, gleaming”), the source of Greek galēnós “calm” and Armenian całr “laughter”,^[3][4][6] but Boutkan doubts the Indo-European etymology and that the “clean” and “small” words are the same.^[4] The verb is from the adjective.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English clǣne is recorded about 750, in a reference to Cynewulf;^[3] the OED's earliest quotation, “free from any defiling ingredient”, is from 883.^[7] Middle English clene, “clear, pure”, is from 1110, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word also meant “morally pure, chaste” and, of animals, “not forbidden by religious law to eat”.^[4] Weekley notes that in its higher senses it has largely been replaced by clear and pure,^[4] while the verb, from about 1450, has taken over much of what once belonged to cleanse.^[3][4] The adverb, “completely”, as in clean forgot, is Old English.^[3][4] “Whole, entire” is from about 1300, and a clean sweep in the figurative sense from 1821.^[4] To make a clean breast of it, “to confess everything”, is from the mid-18th century, from the old idea that the conscience lay in the breast.^[8] “Not lewd”, as in good clean fun, is from 1867,^[4] to come clean, “to confess”, from 1919 in American English,^[4] “carrying nothing forbidden” from 1938, and “free of drug addiction” from the 1950s.^[4] Cleanliness is next to godliness is from the late 18th century and was quoted by John Wesley.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 750 – Old English clǣne.^[3]
• before 900 – adverb, completely.^[3]
• 1110 – Middle English clene.^[3]
• c. 1300 – whole, entire.^[4]
• c. 1450 – verb, to make clean.^[3]
• 1821 – a clean sweep.^[4]
• 1867 – not lewd.^[4]
• 1919 – to come clean.^[4]
• 1950s – free of drugs.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Free from dirt, stains or impurities.
2. Producing little pollution: clean energy.
3. Morally pure; not obscene: clean fun.
4. Fair; without breaking rules: a clean fight.
5. Smooth and even; neat: a clean cut.
6. (informal) Not carrying anything illegal; no longer taking drugs.

Verb

1. To remove dirt from; to make clean.
2. To prepare fish or poultry for cooking by removing the inside parts.

Adverb

1. Completely: I clean forgot.
2. In a clean or fair way.

Word family

• cleanable
• cleanness
• cleanability
• clean-limbed
• superclean
• unclean
• clean-handed
• clean-living

Related words

• dry-clean
• cleanse
• cleanly
• cleaner
• cleanliness

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press