Etymograph

English

clew

Clew comes from Old English clēowen ‘ball, sphere’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *glew-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*glew-1‘to ball up, clump together’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kliuwiną1‘bale, ball, clump, mass’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150clēowen1‘ball, sphere’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clew1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1600clew1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English clew
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1600, Charles Estienne and Jean Liebault, Maison Rustique: “If the whole troupe be diuided into many clewes,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*glew-Wiktionary, English clew‘to ball up, clump together’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kliuwinąWiktionary, English clew‘bale, ball, clump, mass’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150clēowenWiktionary, English clew‘ball, sphere’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clewWiktionary, English clew
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1600clewWiktionary, English clew. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1600, Charles Estienne and Jean Liebault, Maison Rustique: “If the whole troupe be diuided into many clewes,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *glew- ‘to ball up, clump together’

clutch

through Middle English clew

clue

Today it means

noun A roughly spherical mass or body.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “clew”. 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-Indo-European *glew- / clew

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