Etymologically
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climb

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈklaɪ̯m/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English climben, inherited from Old English climban (“to raise oneself with hands and feet; to ascend”),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-West Germanic *klimban (“to go up by clinging”),[3][2] cognate with Dutch klimmen and German klimmen,[2][3] a nasalized form related to cleave, to adhere, and to clay.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before 1000.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

It was a strong verb in Old English (clamb, clumben) but weak by the 16th century,[3][7] with archaic past tense clomb.[8] Other Germanic languages long ago dropped the -b, and in English it is silent.[3][2] To rise slowly by effort is from the mid-13th century, and to mount as if by climbing from the mid-14th century.[3] The noun, an act of climbing, is from 1577–87, in Holinshed's Chronicles,[2][5] and an ascent by aircraft from 1915.[3]

Timeline

  • before 1000 – to climb.[2][7]
  • mid-13th century – to rise by effort.[3]
  • 1577 – the noun.[2]
  • 1915 – an aircraft's ascent.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To go up something, especially using hands and feet.
  2. To move with effort into or out of a position.
  3. To rise, increase or slope upward: prices climbed.
  4. Of a plant, to grow up a support.

Noun

  1. An act of climbing; an ascent.

Word family

  • climbable
  • free-climb
  • climber
  • unclimbed
  • climb-down
  • outclimb
  • reclimb
  • unclimbable

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press