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The story

Perhaps from British military slang, possibly based on Scots word kludge or kludgie (‘common toilet’), or perhaps from German klug (‘clever’). Alternatively, possibly related to Polish klucz (‘key, clue, main point’) and Russian ключ (ključ, “key, clue”).1disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. Alternatively, perhaps from (a form related to) Germanic words such as Dutch Low Saxon klütje (‘(little) dumpling, clod’), Dutch kluit(je) or Jutland Danish klyt (‘piece of bad workmanship, klud(g)e’); compare and standard Danish kludder (‘mess, disorder’).2disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. (Compare klutz.) There is evidence that kluge (which see) was once a separate word with similar meaning but separate derivation, but the spelling kludge was widely popularized in the US by an article in Datamation "How to Design a Kludge" (1962), and since then the two words have often been used as alternative spellings of each other.