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clipă

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word clipă

Confidence
Established
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1683 Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints More words from the 17th century
Ultimate origin
Old Church Slavonic клепати

Forms

clipă f (plural clipe)[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Romanian clipi (“to blink”).[2][3][4][5][6][1] This verb comes from Old Church Slavonic клепати (klepati, “to hammer, knock”).[4][3] For the sense “to blink” DELR and Tiktin compare Bulgarian клепач (klepač, “eyelid”), and DELR also Ukrainian клипати (klypaty, “to blink”).[4][7] Ciorănescu supposes that the sense “to close the eyes” already existed in Slavic, though unattested.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților (1682–1686): „S-au mutat boala, în clipă, la dânsul” “the illness passed at once to him”.[6][5][4] The verb clipi is older, recorded in the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578).[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the blink itself, often as clipă de ochi, and then the time a blink takes, a moment.[6][3] The first sense is now rare.[3] Many adverbial phrases grew from the second: într-o clipă “in an instant”, în câteva clipe “very quickly”, din clipă în clipă “any moment now”, and the interjection O clipă! “just a moment!”.[2][3] Older Romanian had clipeală (1643) and later clipită (c. 1800) in the same sense.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1573–1578 – the verb clipi in the Psaltirea Scheiană.[4]
  • 1643 – clipeală “blink, moment”.[4]
  • 1683 – clipă in Dosoftei.[4][5]
  • 1857 – the neuter clip “moment”.[4]
  • 1875 – clipiș “in an instant” in Alecsandri.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A moment, an instant: a very short time; clipită: Așteaptă o clipă.[2][3]
  2. (rare, dated) A blink of the eyes.[3][6]
  3. In phrases: într-o clipă “at once”;[2][3] în câteva clipe “very quickly”;[2][3] în clipa aceea “at that very moment”;[2][3] din clipă în clipă “at any moment, very soon”;[2][3] O clipă! “just a moment!”.[2][3]

Word family

  • clipiș
  • clipi
  • clipită
  • clipeală
  • sclipi

Usage notes

A rare neuter clip, plural clipuri, is used by Negruzzi.[5][3]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 196
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 436
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. clipi
  5. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. clipă
  6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. clipă
  7. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. clipi
  8. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. clipi
Cite this entry

“Clipă.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/clip%C4%83. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

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