cleaner

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkliː.nə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkli.nɚ/
• Rhymes: -iːnə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English clener, clenere, equivalent to clean +‎ -er (agent noun suffix).

Noun

cleaner (plural cleaners)

2. A person whose occupation is to clean things, especially rooms, floors, and windows.

   Hyponyms: housecleaner, window cleaner

   • 1952 February, J. Pelham Maitland, “Locomotive Working on Sussex Branches Fifty Years Ago”, in Railway Magazine, page 84:

     The cleaner worked, of course, at nights. He had to coal and light up the engine, as well as clean it, for the next day's work, which commenced with a light run to Barnham to "bring in the goods" from that station at about 6.30 a.m.

4. A device that cleans, such as the vacuum cleaner.
6. A substance used for cleaning; especially, one retailed for that purpose and meant for use on things other than one's own body.

   Synonym: cleaning agent (sometimes hypernymous)

   Hyponyms: all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, scouring powder, window cleaner

   Coordinate terms: soap, detergent

   Near-synonym: cleaning fluid

8. (in the plural) A professional laundry or dry cleaner (business).

   I'll have to take this shirt to the cleaners.

9. (informal, idiomatic) A fixer; a person who disposes of bodies and evidence.

Usage notes

• In regards to sense 4, this form is now interpreted as plural and usually spelled without an apostrophe, even in official usage, to justify the removal of the apostrophe. It was traditionally spelled cleaner's with an apostrophe because this is grammatically correct, as can be seen with forms such as go to the doctor's, which cannot be reinterpreted as plural.

Derived terms

• air cleaner
• all-purpose cleaner
• cleaneress
• cleaner fish
• cleaner shrimp
• cleaner-upper
• cleaner-upperer
• crime scene cleaner
• deep cleaner
• denture cleaner
• drain cleaner
• dry cleaner
• engine cleaner
• glass cleaner
• housecleaner
• pipe cleaner
• service cleaner
• streetcleaner
• street cleaner
• suction cleaner
• vacuum cleaner
• way-cleaner
• window cleaner

Related terms

• (sense 3) cleanser
• take to the cleaners

Translations

person who cleans

• Albanian: pastrues (sq) m, pastruese (sq) f
• Arabic: مُنَظِّف m (munaẓẓif), مُنَظِّفَة f (munaẓẓifa)
• Armenian: հավաքարար (hy) (havakʻarar), հավաքարարուհի (hy) (havakʻararuhi) (female)
• Azerbaijani: süpürgəçi
• Basque: garbitzaile (eu)
• Belarusian: убіра́льнік m (ubirálʹnik), убіра́льніца f (ubirálʹnica), прыбіра́льнік m (prybirálʹnik), прыбіра́льніца f (prybirálʹnica), прыбіра́льшчык m (prybirálʹščyk), прыбіра́льшчыца f (prybirálʹščyca)
• Bulgarian: чиста́ч m (čistáč), чиста́чка (bg) f (čistáčka)
• Burmese: သန့်ရှင်းရေးသမား (san.hrang:re:sa.ma:)
• Catalan: netejador m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 清潔工 / 清洁工 (zh) (qīngjiégōng)

• Czech: uklízeč m, uklízečka (cs) f
• Danish: pudser c, skraldemand c
• Dutch: schoonmaker (nl) m, schoonmaakster (nl) f
• Esperanto: purigisto
• Estonian: koristaja (et)
• Finnish: siivooja (fi), siistijä (fi)
• French: nettoyeur (fr) m, nettoyeuse (fr) f
• Galician: limpador (gl) m
• Georgian: დამლაგებელი (damlagebeli), მწმენდავი (mc̣mendavi)
• German: Reinigungskraft (de) f, Gebäudereiniger m (building), Gebäudereinigerin f, Putzfrau (de) f (charwoman), Putzmann (de) m
• Greek: καθαριστής (el) m (katharistís), καθαρίστρια (el) f (katharístria)

  Ancient: καθαρτής m (kathartḗs)

• Hebrew: מְנַקֶּה m (menaké)
• Hindi: क्लीनर m (klīnar), सफ़ाईकार m (safāīkār)
• Hungarian: takarító (hu), takarítónő (hu), bejárónő (hu)
• Icelandic: hreingerningarmaður m, ræstingarkona f
• Italian: addetto alle pulizie m, addetta alle pulizie f
• Japanese: 清掃員 (ja) (せいそういん, seisōin), 掃除婦 (ja) (そうじふ, sōjifu) (female)
• Kazakh: сыпырушы (sypyruşy), тазалаушы (tazalauşy)
• Khmer: អ្នកបោសសំអាត (nĕək baoh sɑmʼaat), អ្នកបោសជូត (nĕək baoh cuut)
• Korean: 청소부(淸掃夫) (cheongsobu), 청소부(淸掃婦) (cheongsobu) (female), 소제부(掃除婦) (sojebu) (female)
• Kyrgyz: тазалагыч (ky) (tazalagıc)
• Latvian: apkopējs m, apkopēja f
• Lithuanian: valytojas m, valytoja f
• Macedonian: чистач m (čistač), чистачка f (čistačka)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: цэвэрлэгч (mn) (ceverlegč)

• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: nettisseux m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: renholder (no) m, reinholder m

  Nynorsk: reinhaldar m

• Persian: نِظافَتْچی (fa) (nezâfatči)
• Polish: sprzątacz (pl) m, sprzątaczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: limpador m
• Romanian: om de serviciu m, femeie de serviciu f
• Russian: убо́рщик (ru) m (ubórščik), убо́рщица (ru) f (ubórščica)
• Scottish Gaelic: neach-glanaidh m or f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: чѝста̄ч m, чиста̀чица f

  Roman: čìstāč (sh) m, čistàčica (sh) f

• Slovak: upratovač m, upratovačka f
• Slovene: čistilec m, čistilka f, snažilec m, snažilka f
• Spanish: limpiador m
• Swedish: städare (sv) c, städerska (sv) c (female)
• Tagalog: tagalinis
• Tajik: фаррош (farroš)
• Tatar: җыештыручы (tt) (cıyeştıruçı)
• Thai: คนทำความสะอาด (kon-tam-kwaam-sà-àat)
• Turkish: temizlikçi (tr), hademe (tr)
• Ukrainian: прибира́льник (uk) m (prybyrálʹnyk), прибира́льниця (uk) f (prybyrálʹnycja)
• Urdu: کِلِینَر m (kilīnar)
• Uzbek: farrosh (uz), tozalovchi (uz)
• Vietnamese: người quét dọn nhà cửa
• Volapük: (♂♀) klinükan, (♂) hiklinükan, (♀) jiklinükan (vo)

device that cleans

• Dutch: reiniger (nl) m
• Esperanto: purigilo
• Finnish: puhdistin (fi); imuri (fi) (vacuum cleaner)
• French: nettoyeur (fr) m
• Hungarian: takarítógép
• Norman: nettisseux m
• Polish: oczyszczarka f, oczyszczacz (pl) m
• Portuguese: limpador m
• Romanian: aspirator (ro) n (vacuum cleaner)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: чѝста̄ч m

  Roman: čìstāč (sh) m

substance used for cleaning

• Dutch: reinigingsmiddel (nl) n, reiniger (nl) m
• Finnish: puhdistusaine
• French: nettoyant (fr) m
• German: Reiniger m
• Hungarian: tisztítószer (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rengjøringsmiddel n

• Polish: środek czyszczący m, detergent (pl) m
• Romanian: detergent (ro) m
• Russian: очисти́тель (ru) m (očistítelʹ)
• Swedish: rengöringsmedel (sv) n

professional laundry

• Arabic:

  Moroccan Arabic: مصبنة f (maṣbana)

• Dutch: wasserij (nl) f
• Finnish: pesula (fi)
• French: pressing (fr) m
• Hungarian: tisztító (hu), vegytisztító (hu), ruhatisztító (hu), (industrial dry-cleaner or self-service establishment) mosoda (hu)
• Polish: pralnia (pl) f
• Portuguese: lavanderia (pt) f
• Romanian: curățătorie (ro) f

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle English clener, clenner, clanner, clannere, from Old English clǣnra, clǣnre (“cleaner, purer, clearer”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainiʀō (“daintier, more delicate”), from Proto-Germanic *klainizô (“shinier, finer, more splendid”), equivalent to clean +‎ -er.

Adjective

cleaner

1. comparative form of clean: more clean

Anagrams

• Carlene, reclean

French

Etymology

From English clean +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kli.ne/
• Rhymes: -e

Verb

cleaner

1. (Quebec, anglicism) to clean

Conjugation

Conjugation of cleaner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	cleaner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	cleanant /kli.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		cleané /kli.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cleane /klin/	cleanes /klin/	cleane /klin/	cleanons /kli.nɔ̃/	cleanez /kli.ne/	cleanent /klin/
	imperfect	cleanais /kli.nɛ/	cleanais /kli.nɛ/	cleanait /kli.nɛ/	cleanions /kli.njɔ̃/	cleaniez /kli.nje/	cleanaient /kli.nɛ/
	past historic2	cleanai /kli.ne/	cleanas /kli.na/	cleana /kli.na/	cleanâmes /kli.nam/	cleanâtes /kli.nat/	cleanèrent /kli.nɛʁ/
	future	cleanerai /klin.ʁe/	cleaneras /klin.ʁa/	cleanera /klin.ʁa/	cleanerons /klin.ʁɔ̃/	cleanerez /klin.ʁe/	cleaneront /klin.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	cleanerais /klin.ʁɛ/	cleanerais /klin.ʁɛ/	cleanerait /klin.ʁɛ/	cleanerions /kli.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	cleaneriez /kli.nə.ʁje/	cleaneraient /klin.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	cleane /klin/	cleanes /klin/	cleane /klin/	cleanions /kli.njɔ̃/	cleaniez /kli.nje/	cleanent /klin/
	imperfect2	cleanasse /kli.nas/	cleanasses /kli.nas/	cleanât /kli.na/	cleanassions /kli.na.sjɔ̃/	cleanassiez /kli.na.sje/	cleanassent /kli.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cleane /klin/	—	cleanons /kli.nɔ̃/	cleanez /kli.ne/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).