clove

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.

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 p. 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 pink (Dianthus caryophyllus)

Related terms

• cloy
• cloying

Translations

spice

Afrikaans: naeltjie (af) Amharic: ቅርንፉድ (ḳərnəfud) Arabic: قَرَنْفُل‎ (ar) m (qaranful) Egyptian Arabic: قرنفل‎ m (ʾoronfel) Hijazi Arabic: قُرُنْفُل‎ m (gurunful) Moroccan Arabic: قرنفل‎ (qrunful) Armenian: մեխակ (hy) (mexak) Assamese: লং (loṅ) Azerbaijani: mixək (az) Bashkir: ҡәләмфер (qälämfer) Basque: iltzea Bengali: লবঙ্গ (lôbôṅgô) 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 (qermefiibl) 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) 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 Oriya: 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

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-Germanic *klubō, related to clēofan (“to cleave, split”), hence with the verbal etymology hereafter.

Noun

clove (plural cloves)

1. (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) (pčeł, literally “hoof”) Bulgarian: скилидка f (skilidka) 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”)

Verb

clove

1. simple past tense 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 at OneLook Dictionary Search
• clove in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• clove on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Covel

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Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English clufu, clofu; compare 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”)