cluster

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈklʌs.tə/, US /ˈklʌs.tɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English clyster, cluster, bunch of grapes (before 800),^[2][3][4] probably from a Germanic base also seen in clot,^[2][4][5] and related to Low German kluster.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bunch of grapes, before 800, where bunch is now the usual word.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Other fruits, flowers and natural growths are from 1382,^[3] and a number of persons, animals or things gathered closely together from about 1400.^[7][3] A star cluster is from 1727.^[7] The verb, to collect into a cluster, is from the late 14th century, and to form a cluster from the 1540s.^[7] Cluster bomb is attested by 1950.^[7] In phonetics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants in a row, as cl and st in cluster.^[8]

Timeline

• before 800 – a bunch of grapes.^[3][2]
• 1382 – a cluster of fruit or flowers.^[3]
• c. 1400 – a group of people or things.^[7]
• 1727 – a star cluster.^[7]
• 1950 – cluster bomb.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A group of similar things growing or occurring close together; a bunch.
2. A group of people or animals gathered together.
3. (phonetics) Two or more consonants in a row.

Verb

1. To gather or grow into clusters.

Word family

• clustery
• clusteringly
• supercluster
• intercluster
• subcluster
• cluster bean
• cluster fly
• cluster headache

Related words

• clot
• clod
• clump

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin