clef

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French clef (“key”),^[2][3][4] which also meant a musical clef,^[5][6][7] and comes from Latin clāvis (“key”).^{[8][2][5][9][10]} Etymonline says that the French noun is recorded from the 12th century,^[5] and the Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1113–19 as "key", and also in the musical sense.^[11] Etymonline notes that classical Latin used its noun only for a literal key, and that in the Middle Ages it was used in the Guidonian system for the lowest note of a scale.^[5] The Latin noun is related to claudō (“to close”)^[7][6] and comes from Proto-Indo-European *klau- (“hook”).^[5] It is also the source of Italian chiave, Romanian cheie, Spanish llave and Portuguese chave.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sign on a musical staff that fixes the pitch of the notes: before 1577, according to Barnhart,^[2][3] about 1577 according to Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[6] and in the 1570s according to Etymonline.^[5] The OED's first record is from 1579, in Gosson's Schoole of Abuse.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The English word has kept to the musical use of the French noun throughout, as a figurative or transferred "key".^[8][5] The OED records its spelling as formerly confused with that of cliff and cleeve, in quotations of 1654 and 1658.^[8] From 1597, in Morley, to 1868, B clef named the two characters now called flat and natural, which grew out of forms of the letter b.^[8] Johnson (1755), citing Chambers, explains it as a mark at the beginning of the lines of a song that shows the tone or key.^[13] The commonest kind, according to Etymonline, is the treble or G clef, which marks the second line of the staff as the G above middle C.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1577 – a musical sign marking the pitch of the notes on a staff.^[6][2] The OED's first record of it is from 1579.^[8]
• 1597 – B clef, the characters now called flat and natural (until 1868).^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sign placed at the start of a musical staff or stave that shows which pitch each line and space stands for: The viola part is written in the alto clef.^[7][6][8]

Word family

• alto clef
• baritone clef
• bass clef
• F clef
• tenor clef
• treble clef
• viola clef

Related words

• clavicle
• enclave
• close

Usage notes

The OED has a separate obsolete clef, the pin or needle of a weighing-beam, recorded from before 1513 to 1569 and apparently from an Anglo-Norman form of Latin clāvus (“pin”).^[8] In north Wiltshire dialect a clef was a handful or small bundle of hay.^[14]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ 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)