Etymograph

English

cleanly

Cleanly comes from Old English clǣnlīċ ‘cleanly, pure, excellent’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *klainī.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klainī1‘clean’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150clǣne2‘clean’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150clǣnlīċ3‘cleanly, pure, excellent’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clenly3
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1591cleanly3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English clæne
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English clænlic
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English cleanly
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, Edmund Spenser, Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.: “Yet at the laſt (ſo well he him applyde,)…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klainīWiktionary, Old English clæne‘clean’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150clǣneWiktionary, Old English clænlic‘clean’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150clǣnlīċWiktionary, English cleanly‘cleanly, pure, excellent’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clenlyWiktionary, English cleanly
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1591cleanlyWiktionary, English cleanly. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, Edmund Spenser, Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.: “Yet at the laſt (ſo well he him applyde,)…”

Formed from clean + -ly

Proto-West Germanic *klainī ‘dainty’

Old English clāne ‘clean’

Middle English clene

English clean

Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *klainī

Another origin of cleanly

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klainī‘clean’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150clǣne‘clean’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150clǣnlīċe
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clenly
  5. Englishtodaycleanly

Today it means

adj Being habitually clean, practising good hygiene.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cleanly”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Old English clæne, Old English clænlic. 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-West Germanic *klainī / cleanly

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