Etymograph

English

clad

Clad comes from Middle English clothen ‘to put clothing on, clothe, dress’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *klaiþą.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klaiþą1‘cloth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klaiþ1‘cloth’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150clāþ2‘cloth’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*clāþian2‘to clothe’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clothen2‘to put clothing on, clothe, dress’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clad(d)2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1879clad2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English claþ
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English clad
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes: “On all sides, Goudet is shut in by mountains;…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klaiþąWiktionary, Old English claþ‘cloth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klaiþWiktionary, Old English claþ‘cloth’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150clāþWiktionary, English clad‘cloth’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*clāþianWiktionary, English clad‘to clothe’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clothenWiktionary, English clad‘to put clothing on, clothe, dress’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clad(d)Wiktionary, English clad
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1879cladWiktionary, English clad. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes: “On all sides, Goudet is shut in by mountains;…”

Linked words

through Proto-West Germanic *klaiþ ‘cloth’

clothier, 1 more

through Old English clāþ ‘cloth’

clothes, cloth, claes, 2 more

through Middle English clothen ‘to put clothing on, clothe, dress’

clothe

Today it means

adj Wearing clothing or some other covering (for example, an armour) on the body; clothed, dressed.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “clad”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English claþ. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *klaiþą / clad

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