clot

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English clot, also clotte,^[2][3] inherited from Old English clott (“lump, round mass”), also clot,^[4][5][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *klutto-,^[4][5] through Proto-West Germanic *klott-.^[4][8] It corresponds to Middle High German kloz (modern German Klotz (“lump, block”)),^[4][7][8] and is related to Middle Dutch klotte (“block, lump”),^[9][7] Dutch kloot (“ball”) and Danish klods (“block, lump”).^[5] The OED explains it as a weak-grade derivative of the root that gave klos (“block, log”), Kloß (“lump, ball”) and English cleat, and sees in that root an extension of the one in clew and clod.^[4] Barnhart traces it to Proto-Indo-European *gloud-, *glud-.^[7] It is related to, and probably confused with, clod and cleat,^[5][8] and Klein and Skeat also compare clout and cluster.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A lump or rounded mass, especially one formed by things sticking or freezing together: the OED's first example is an Old English gloss,^[4] which Barnhart dates to about 1000.^[7] Barnhart finds the Middle English word probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English clot was often a lump of earth, the sense now taken by clod: it is used so from before 1398 to the 17th century, and survived in dialect.^[4] Johnson thought the two words were at first the same, though clot had by his time other uses.^[10] The sense of a soft lump of curdled liquid appears before 1530,^[4] a mass of thickened blood in 1611, in Cotgrave,^[4] which Etymonline dates to the 1610s.^[5] The verb, from the noun, first meant to clear land of clods (1483),^[4] and then to form clots (1530), and of blood or cream to coagulate (1591).^[4][5] Clotted cream (1799) was earlier clouted cream (1540s).^[5] A person who is dull or clumsy is called a clot from before 1637, in Ben Jonson,^[4] and the word is now a mild, often affectionate, British insult for a fool.^[9][11] From 1932, in Faulkner, the verb also described people gathering in a crowd.^[4] In northern English dialects clot kept the sense "clod of earth" into the 19th century.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – clott, a lump or rounded mass.^[4][7]
• before 1398 – a hard lump of earth (obsolete except in dialect).^[4]
• 1483 – verb, to free land of clods.^[4]
• before 1530 – a semi-solid lump of curdled liquid.^[4]
• 1530 – verb, to form clots.^[4]
• 1591 – verb, of fluids, to coagulate.^[4]
• 1611 – a mass of coagulated blood.^[4]
• before 1637 – a dull-witted or clumsy person.^[4]
• 1932 – verb, of people, to gather in a crowd.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A soft, thick lump or mass, especially of thickened liquid: a clot of blood.^[9][13][4]
2. A thick mass of blood formed by coagulation; a thrombus.^[13][4]
3. (British, informal) A stupid person; a fool, often said affectionately: You silly clot!^[9][4][11]
4. (archaic) A hard lump of earth; a clod.^[13][4]

Verb

1. To form into clots; to coagulate: The blood had begun to clot.^[9][13][4]
2. To cause to form clots, or to cover with clots.^[9][4]
3. Of people, to gather in a close group.^[13][4]

Word family

• clotty
• blood clot
• clotting factor

Related words

• clod
• cleat
• clout
• cluster
• clutter
• klutz
• clotted cream

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster