English
clump
Clump comes from Middle English clompe ‘a clump or lump’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clompe‘a clump or lump’
- Englishearliest quotation 1837clump
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clompe‘a clump or lump’
- Englishearliest quotation 1837clump
Earliest quotation: 1837, The Magazine of Domestic Economy:: “clump-burned bricks”.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *glembʰ- ‘lump, clamp’
through Proto-Germanic *klumpô ‘mass, lump, clump’
Today it means
noun A cluster or lump; an unshaped piece or mass.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English clompe / clump