Etymograph

English

cloud

Cloud comes from Old English clūd ‘mass of rock, hill’, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz ‘lump’, from Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to ball up’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-1‘to ball up’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*glewdos1‘lump’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klūtaz1‘lump’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klūt1‘lump, mass’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150clūd1‘mass of stone’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cloud1‘a cloud’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1595cloud1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English cloud
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “One day too late, I fear me, noble lord,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-Wiktionary, English cloud‘to ball up’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*glewdosWiktionary, English cloud‘lump’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klūtazWiktionary, English cloud‘lump’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klūtWiktionary, English cloud‘lump, mass’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150clūdWiktionary, English cloud‘mass of stone’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cloudWiktionary, English cloud‘a cloud’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1595cloudWiktionary, English cloud. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “One day too late, I fear me, noble lord,…”

The story

Largely replaced Middle English welkne, from Old English wolcn (whence English welkin), from Proto-Germanic *wulkną, the original Germanic word for cloud (compare Dutch wolk, German Wolke, North Frisian and West Frisian wolk).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with cloud, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to ball up, clench’

  • children ← ċildru ← ċild ← *kilþ ← *kelþaz
  • child ← ċild ← *kilþ ← *kelþaz ← *ǵelt-
  • cold ← cald
  • clean ← clene ← clāne ← *klainī ← *glēy-
  • chill ← chele ← ċele ← chile ← ċiele
  • globe ← globus
  • gel ← gelatin ← gélatine ← gelatina ← gelare
  • jelly ← gele ← gelee ← gelāta ← gelo
  • cluster ← *klas-
  • colt ← *kultaz ← *gelt-
  • gelatin ← gélatine ← gelatina ← gelare ← gelāre
  • gelato ← gelātus ← gelō ← gelū

57 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cloud”. 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 *gel- / cloud