clew

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• /kluː/
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• /kluʊ̯/
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• obsolete: /kljuː/
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• rhymes with -uː
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• homophone: clue
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• homophone: clou
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From Middle English clew, clewe, clowe, clue, clwe, clyw, clywe, from Old English clēowen, clīewen, clīowen, clīwen, clȳwe, clȳwen (“ball, sphere; skein”), from Proto-Germanic *kliuwiną, *klewô (“bale, ball, clump, mass”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to ball up, clump together; lump, swelling”). Akin to Old English clǣġ (“clay”). Doublet of knawel. Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian khnaul (“ball of yarn”), Dutch kluwe, kluwen (“ball thread or yarn, clew”), German Knäuel (“ballyarn; tangle”), Norwegian Nynorsk kljå (“a loom weight”); also Sanskrit ग्लौ (glau, “the moon; camphor; the earth”).

39 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: кълбо (kǎlbo) — roughly spherical mass or body
• Finnish: kerä — roughly spherical mass or body
• Finnish: pallero — roughly spherical mass or body
• Irish: ceirtlín — roughly spherical mass or body
• Belarusian: клубо́к (klubók) — ball of thread
• Bulgarian: кълбо (kǎlbo) — ball of thread
• Czech: smotek — ball of thread
• Danish: nøgle — ball of thread
• Dutch: kluwen — ball of thread
• Finnish: lankakerä — ball of thread
• Finnish: kerä — ball of thread
• French: pelote — ball of thread
• German: Knäuel — ball of thread
• Greek: μίτος (mítos) — ball of thread
• Hungarian: gombolyag — ball of thread
• Irish: ceirtlín — ball of thread
• Italian: gomitolo — ball of thread
• Korean: 꾸리 (kkuri) — ball of thread
• Korean: 꾸러미 (kkureomi) — ball of thread
• Norwegian Bokmål: nøste — ball of thread
• Punjabi: ਪਿੰਨਾ (pinnā) — ball of thread
• Romanian: ghem — ball of thread
• Russian: клубо́к (klubók) — ball of thread
• Russian: мото́к (motók) — ball of thread
• Spanish: ovillo — ball of thread
• Swedish: nystan — ball of thread
• Turkish: yumak — ball of thread
• Ottoman Turkish: یوماق (yumak) — ball of thread
• Ukrainian: клубо́к (klubók) — ball of thread
• Welsh: pellen — ball of thread
• Finnish: johtolanka — yarn used to guide one's way through a maze, clue
• Norwegian Bokmål: ariadnetråd — yarn used to guide one's way through a maze, clue
• Norwegian Bokmål: ledetråd — yarn used to guide one's way through a maze, clue
• Finnish: skuuttikulma — nautical: sail corner
• Italian: bugna — nautical: sail corner
• Russian: шко́товый у́гол па́руса (škótovyj úgol párusa) — nautical: sail corner
• Ottoman Turkish: دامن (daman) — nautical: sail corner
• Finnish: skuutti — nautical: sheet attached to this sail corner
• Finnish: kiinnitysnarut — nautical: cords suspending a hammock