Etymograph

English

clivity

Clivity comes from Latin clivus ‘hill’, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱleywós ‘sloped, curved’, and perhaps ultimately from *ḱley- ‘to lean’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱley-1‘to lean’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱleywós1‘sloped, curved’uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kleiwos1uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclivus2‘hill’
  5. Englishtodayclivity2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin clivus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English clivity

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱley-Wiktionary, Latin clivus‘to lean’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱleywósWiktionary, Latin clivus‘sloped, curved’uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kleiwosWiktionary, Latin clivusuncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclivusWiktionary, English clivity‘hill’
  5. EnglishtodayclivityWiktionary, English clivity

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- ‘to lean’

law, low, climate, lean, ladder, decline, lid, climax, inclination, eyelid, incline, clinician, cline, declension, declination, 26 more

Today it means

noun inclination, slope; ascent or descent; gradient

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “clivity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin clivus. 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 *ḱley- / clivity

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