cliché English · revision 204
5 Oct 2026, 22:17 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, word family, related words; definitions under Modern meaning” current version
Changes in this edit
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈkliː.ʃeɪ/ ''(UK)''; /kliˈʃeɪ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+
==Etymology==
− Recorded in English from 1825 in the printing sense “stereotype block”,^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[bor|fr|cliché]], the past participle of [[fr|clicher|t=to make a stereotype plate]] used as a noun,^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) a variant of ''cliquer'' “to click”,^(OED 1989) said to imitate the sound of the matrix striking the molten metal.^(AHD)^(RHWU)
+ It is [[bor|fr|cliché]], the past participle of [[fr|clicher|t=to make a stereotype plate]] used as a noun,^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) a variant of ''cliquer'' “to click”,^(OED 1989) said to imitate the sound of the matrix striking the molten metal.^(AHD)^(RHWU)
− The figurative sense “trite phrase” is first attested in 1888, from the idea of a plate that reproduces the same print endlessly, as with [[stereotype]];^(Etymonline) it was not common in English until the 1920s.^(Etymonline)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ In printing, a stereotype or electrotype block (1825),^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) originally a cast made by letting a matrix fall face down onto molten metal on the point of cooling.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
− ==Noun==
− '''cliché'''
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The figurative sense “trite phrase” is first attested in 1888, from the idea of a plate that reproduces the same print endlessly, as with [[stereotype]];^(Etymonline) it was not common in English until the 1920s.^(Etymonline) The adjective ''clichéd'' dates from 1928.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1825 – “a stereotype block”.^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)
+ * 1832 – the OED's first quotation.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1888 – “a trite phrase”.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1892 – the date given by Merriam-Webster and the OED for the figurative sense.^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1928 – ''clichéd''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1959 – ''cliché'' used as an adjective.^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
# A phrase or idea used so often that it has lost its force.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
# An overused theme, character, or situation in art or literature.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
# ''(printing)'' A stereotype or electrotype plate.^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
− ==Adjective==
− '''cliché'''
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Trite, hackneyed.^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
− # Trite, hackneyed.^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[click]]
+ * [[stereotype]]
+ * [[platitude]]
+ * [[bromide]]
+ * [[truism]]
+
+ ==Usage notes==
+ The spelling ''cliche'', without the accent, may be used without confusion, as no other English word has that spelling.^(Wiktionary)
==References==