Etymologically
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clean

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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and, of animals, “not forbidden by religious law to eat”.[4] Weekley notes that in its higher senses it has largely been replaced by clear and pure,[4] while the verb, from about 1450, has taken over much of what once belonged to cleanse.[3][4] The adverb, “completely”, as in clean forgot,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
  • 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