clove

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kləʊv/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kloʊv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊv

Etymology 1

Cloves (1).

From Middle English clove, an alteration of earlier clowe, borrowed from the first component of Old French clou (de girofle) (modern French clou de girofle), from Latin clāvus (“nail”) for its shape. Also see clāva (“knotty branch, club”). Doublet of clou and clavus.

Noun

clove (countable and uncountable, plural cloves)

1. (uncountable, countable) A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree.
2. (countable) A clove tree, of the species Syzygium aromaticum (syn. Caryophyllus aromaticus), native to the Moluccas (Indonesian islands), which produces the spice.
3. (countable) An old English measure of weight, containing 7 pounds (3.2 kg), i.e. half a stone.
   • 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, page 202:

     Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod 6+¹⁄₂ tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. The 'Pathway' points out the etymology of the word cloves; it calls them ' claves or nails.' It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds.

   • 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 169:

     By a statute of 9 Hen. VI. it was ordained that the wey of cheese should contain 32 cloves of 7 lbs. each, i.e. 224 lbs., or 2 cwts.

Derived terms

• clove camphor
• clove gilliflower, clove gillyflower (Dianthus caryophyllus)
• clove lilli pilli
• clove pink (Dianthus caryophyllus)

Related terms

• cloy
• cloying

Translations

spice

• Afrikaans: naeltjie (af)
• Amharic: ቅርንፉድ (ḳərnəfud)
• Arabic: قَرَنْفُل (ar) m (qaranful)

  Egyptian Arabic: قرنفل m (ʔoronfel)

  Hijazi Arabic: قُرُنْفُل m (gurunful)

  Moroccan Arabic: قرنفل (qrunful)

• Armenian: մեխակ (hy) (mexak)
• Assamese: লং (loṅ)
• Azerbaijani: mixək (az)
• Bashkir: ҡәләмфер (qələmfer)
• Basque: iltzea
• Bengali: লবঙ্গ (bn) (loboṅgo)
• Bulgarian: карамфил (bg) m (karamfil)
• Burmese: လေးညှင်းပွင့် (my) (le:hnyang:pwang.)
• Catalan: clavell (ca) m, clavell d'espècia m, clau d'espècia f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 丁香 (ding¹ hoeng¹)

  Mandarin: 丁香 (zh) (dīngxiāng)

• Classical Nahuatl: Caxtīllān chīlli
• Czech: hřebíček (cs) m
• Danish: nellike (da) c, kryddernellike (da) c
• Dhivehi: ކަރަންފޫ (karan̊fū)
• Dutch: kruidnagel (nl)
• Esperanto: kariofilo
• Finnish: neilikka (fi), mausteneilikka (fi)
• French: clou de girofle (fr) m
• German: Gewürznelke (de) f
• Greek: γαρύφαλλο (el) n (garýfallo)

  Ancient: καρυόφυλλον n (karuóphullon)

• Gujarati: લવિંગ (laviṅg)
• Haitian Creole: jiwòf
• Hebrew: צִפֹּרֶן (he) f (tzippóren)
• Hindi: लौंग (lauṅg), लवंग (hi) m (lavaṅg)
• Hungarian: szegfűszeg (hu)
• Icelandic: negull m
• Indonesian: cengkih (id)
• Irish: clóbh m
• Italian: chiodo di garofano (it) m
• Japanese: クローブ (kurōbu), 丁子 (ja) (ちょうじ, chōji), 丁字 (ja) (ちょうじ, chōji)
• Javanese: ꦕꦼꦁꦏꦺꦃ (cengkéh)
• Kabardian: къэрмэфибл (kbd) (qɛrmɛfibl)
• Kannada: ಲವಂಗ (kn) (lavaṅga)
• Khmer: ក្លាំពូ (km) (klampuu)
• Korean: 정향나무 (jeonghyangnamu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: mêxek (ku), qernefîl (ku)

• Lao: ກ້ານພູ (kān phū)
• Luxembourgish: Neelcheskapp m
• Macedonian: каранфилче (karanfilče)
• Malagasy: jirofo (mg)
• Malay: cengkih (ms)
• Malayalam: കരയാമ്പൂ (ml) (karayāmpū), ഗ്രാമ്പു (grāmpu)
• Maltese: qronfol
• Maori: korohe
• Marathi: लवंग (lavaṅga)
• Minangkabau: cangkeh
• Nepali: ल्वाङ (lwāṅ)
• Ngazidja Comorian: karanfu
• Norman: cliou d'giroufl'ye m (Jersey), cllaou d'girouflle m (Guernsey), cllou de girouflle m (continental Normandy)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nellik m

  Nynorsk: nellik m

• Occitan: clavèl de giròfle (oc) m
• Odia: ଲବଙ୍ଗ (or) (lôbôṅgô)
• Oromo: qurunfudii
• Pashto: لونګ (lawong)
• Persian: قرنفل (fa) (qaranfol)
• Polish: goździk (pl) m
• Portuguese: cravo (pt) m, cravo-da-índia (pt), cravinho (pt) m, girofle m
• Romanian: cuișoare (ro) pl
• Russian: гвозди́ка (ru) f (gvozdíka)
• Sanskrit: लवंग (sa) n (lavaṃga)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: каранфилић m, клинчић m

  Roman: karanfilić m, klinčić m

• Slovene: klinček m, nageljnova žbica f
• Somali: dhaga yare
• Spanish: clavo de olor (es) m, clavo (es) m
• Sundanese: ᮎᮨᮀᮊᮦᮂ (cengkéh)
• Swahili: karafuu
• Swedish: kryddnejlika (sv) c
• Tagalog: kalabumpako, klabos
• Tamil: கிராம்பு (ta) (kirāmpu)
• Telugu: లవంగము (te) (lavaṅgamu)
• Ternate: bualawa
• Thai: กานพลู (th) (gaan-pluu)
• Tibetan: ལི་ཤི། (li shi)
• Turkish: karanfil (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: قرنفل (karanfil)

• Ukrainian: гвозди́ка f (hvozdýka)
• Vietnamese: đinh hương
• Welsh: clof m or f, clofsen f, clowsen f
• West Flemish: kruudnoagel
• Wolof: djirofe
• Yiddish: נעגעלע n (negele)

Syzygium aromaticum

• Armenian: մեխակածառ (hy) (mexakacaṙ)
• Burmese: လေးညှင်း (my) (le:hnyang:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 丁子香 (dīngzǐxiāng), 雞舌香／鸡舌香 (zh) (jīshéxiāng)

• Hindi: लौंग (lauṅg), लवंग (hi) m (lavaṅg)
• Japanese: チョウジノキ (chōji-no-ki), 丁子 (ja) (ちょうじ, chōji), チョウジ (chōji)
• Polish: goździkowiec korzenny (pl) m, drzewo goździkowe n
• Russian: гвозди́чное де́рево (gvozdíčnoje dérevo)

measure

Etymology 2

Peeled cloves of garlic

From Middle English clove, from Old English clufu, from Proto-West Germanic *klubu, from Proto-Germanic *klubō, related to clēofan (“to cleave, split”), hence with the verbal etymology hereafter.

Noun

clove (plural cloves)

2. (horticulture, cooking) One of the small bulbs formed in the axils of the scales of a large bulb.

   clove of garlic, garlic clove, clove of a sea-onion, clove of shallot, cloves of bulbs

Translations

constitutive bulb of garlic

• Arabic: فَصّ m (faṣṣ)

  Egyptian Arabic: فص m (faṣ)

• Armenian: պճեղ (hy) (pčeġ, literally “hoof”)
• Bulgarian: скили́дка f (skilídka)
• Catalan: all (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 粒 (lap¹ or nap¹), 瓣 (faan⁶ or baan⁶)

  Mandarin: 瓣 (zh) (bàn)

• Czech: stroužek (cs) m
• Danish: fed n
• Dutch: teen (nl) m (literally “toe”)
• Finnish: kynsi (fi) (literally “nail”)
• French: gousse (fr) f
• Galician: dente (gl) (literally “tooth”)
• German: Zehe (de) f (literally “toe”), Knoblauchzehe (de) f
• Greek: σκελίδα (el) f (skelída)

  Ancient: γελγίς f (gelgís)

• Hebrew: שֵׁן שׁוּם m (shen shum), שִׁנֵּי שׁוּם m pl (shinéy shum)
• Hungarian: gerezd (hu)
• Icelandic: geiri (is) m
• Indonesian: siung (id)
• Irish: ionga (ga) f (literally “nail”)
• Italian: spicchio (it) m
• Latvian: daiva f
• Macedonian: чешне n (češne)
• Mongolian: хумс (mn) (xums, literally “nail”)
• Norman: gousse f (Jersey)
• Norwegian: fedd n
• Old English: clufu f
• Polish: ząbek (pl) n
• Portuguese: dente (pt) (literally “tooth”)
• Romanian: cățel (ro) m (literally “puppy”)
• Russian: зубо́к (ru) m (zubók, literally “tooth”), до́лька (ru) f (dólʹka, literally “segment”) (чеснока́)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: че̏шањ m (Croatia, Bosnia), че̏н (Serbia), чесно n, чехно n

  Roman: čȅšanj (sh) m (Croatia, Bosnia), čȅn (Serbia), česno n, čehno (sh) n

• Spanish: diente (es) m (literally “tooth”)
• Swedish: klyfta (sv) c
• Telugu: పాయ (te) (pāya)
• Turkish: diş (tr)
• Ukrainian: зубо́к m (zubók) (literally “little tooth”)

Etymology 3

Verb

clove

1. simple past of cleave

Related terms

• clove hitch
• clove hook
• cloven

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Dutch kloof.

Noun

clove (plural cloves)

1. (geography) A narrow valley with steep sides, used in areas of North America first settled by the Dutch

Usage notes

• Mainly used in proper names, such as Kaaterskill Clove.

Further reading

• “clove”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “clove”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• clove on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Covel

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English clufu, from Proto-West Germanic *klubu, from Proto-Germanic *klubō, related to cleven.

Alternative forms

• clof, clowe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɔːv(ə)/

Noun

clove (plural cloves)

1. clove (bulb of garlic)

Descendants

• English: clove
• Scots: clow

References

• “clōve, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-29.

Etymology 2

From Old French clou de girofle.

Noun

clove

1. Alternative form of clowe

Etymology 3

From Old English clofen, past participle of clēofan.

Noun

clove

1. Alternative form of cloven

Etymology 4

From Old English clēaf, 1st- and 3rd- person simple past singular of clēofan, with the vowel from the past participle.

Verb

clove

1. simple past singular of cleven (“to split”)