different between clem vs clef

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?m

Etymology 1

Compare clam (“to clog”), or German klemmen (“to jam, clamp; to be stuck, adhere (to a surface)”), Icelandic klmbra, English clamp.

Verb

clem (third-person singular simple present clems, present participle clemming, simple past and past participle clemmed)

1. (Britain, dialect, transitive or intransitive) To be hungry; starve.
   • 1889, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Between Two Loves, Ch. VI, p. 110:

     " […] Here he's back home again, and without work, and without a penny, and thou knows t' little one and I were pretty well clemmed to death when thou got us a bit o' bread and meat last night. We were that!"

2. To stick, adhere.

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Etymology 2

Possibly from clementine, a small round citrus fruit.

Noun

clem (plural clems)

1. (Tyneside, vulgar, slang) A testicle.

References

• clem in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• ECML

English

Alternative forms

• cleff, cliff (both obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French clef, from Latin cl?vis (“a key”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?f

Noun

clef (plural clefs)

1. A symbol found on a musical staff that indicates the pitches represented by the lines and the spaces on the staff [from 16th c.]

Derived terms

Related terms

• clave

Translations

French

Etymology

See clé.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kle/
• Rhymes: -e
• Homophones: clé, clefs, clés

Noun

clef f (plural clefs)

1. Alternative spelling of clé (“key”)
2. (music) clef
3. (heraldry) key; the device as shown on a coat of arms

Derived terms

Further reading

• “clef” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French clef.

Noun

clef f (plural clefs)

1. key

Adjective

clef m or f (invariable)

1. key (vitally important)

Descendants

• French: clef, clé

Old French

Etymology

From Latin cl?vis, cl?vem (“a key”).

Noun

clef f (oblique plural cles, nominative singular clef, nominative plural cles)

1. key

Descendants

• English: clef
• Middle French: clef
  • French: clef, clé
• Gallo: tié
• Norman: clié