English
closure
Closure comes from Old French closure, from Late Latin clausura ‘lock, bar, bolt’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂w- ‘key, hook, nail’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kleh₂w-1‘key, hook, nail’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*klaudō1‘to close’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclaudō2as claudere‘to close’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEclausura2‘lock, bar, bolt’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400closure2
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500closure2
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1593closure2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin claudo
- 2 Wiktionary, English closure
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “O thou bloody prison […] / Within the guilty…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kleh₂w-Wiktionary, Latin claudo‘key, hook, nail’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*klaudōWiktionary, Latin claudo‘to close’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclaudōWiktionary, English closureas claudere‘to close’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEclausuraWiktionary, English closure‘lock, bar, bolt’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400closureWiktionary, English closure
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500closureWiktionary, English closure
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1593closureWiktionary, English closure. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “O thou bloody prison […] / Within the guilty…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂w- ‘key, hook, nail’
include, cataract, conclave, subclavian, 27 more
through Proto-Italic *klaudō ‘to close’
closet, disclose, inclusiveness, enclose, 25 more
through Latin claudō ‘to close’
close, exclusive, conclusion, inclusion, inclusive, clause, conclude, exclude, preclude, sluice, occlusion, recluse, claustrophobia, cloister, 30 more
through Late Latin clausura ‘lock, bar, bolt’
Today it means
noun An event or occurrence that signifies an ending.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “closure”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin claudo. 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 *kleh₂w- / closure