"C" Word Origins

club

Old Norse

From Old Norse klubba, "cudgel," related to Proto-Germanic roots meaning "lump" or "block." The social-group sense grew out of the idea of a shared "club" or contribution — people literally clubbing their resources together.

clubbed

Origin

From club, in the sense of a heavy stick that is thicker at one end.

clubber

Origin

From club + -er.

clubgoer

Origin

From club + goer.

clubhouse

Origin

A straightforward compound of club and house — a house belonging to a club.

cluck

Old English

From Old English cloccian, an imitative word that mimics the sound itself — the same pattern shows up in German glucken and Dutch klokken.

cludgie

Origin

Uncertain, but probably from closet (“private room; outhouse”), possibly compounded with lodge (“building”) and -ie (affectionate diminutive suffix). Or simply onomatopoeic, from the sound of the flushing.

clue

Origin

From an older word "clew", meaning a ball of thread — it traces back to the myth of Theseus, who used a ball of thread to find his way out of the labyrinth.

clueful

Origin

From clue + -ful, by analogy with clueless.

clueless

Origin

Built from clue plus the suffix -less, meaning "without" — literally "without clues".

clump

Old English

From Old English clympre, meaning a lump of metal, related to Germanic words for a mass or lump.

clumps

Origin

The game of asking questions is so called because the players take sides in two "clumps" or groups.

clumsiness

Origin

Formed from clumsy plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

clumsy

Origin

Likely from an older word "clumse", meaning numb or stiff with cold, plus the adjective ending -y.

clunk

Origin

An imitative word — it simply sounds like the noise it describes.

clunker

Origin

From clunk + -er.

Cluny

Latin

From Latin Cluniacum, from Clunius.

cluster

Old English

From Old English clyster, related to Germanic words meaning to clump or lump together; probably a close relative of the word clot.

clutch

Old English

From Old English clyċċan, "to clutch or clench", related to a very old root meaning to ball up or amass.

clutter

Origin

From an old word meaning to form clots or heap things up, related to clot.

Clyde

Scottish Gaelic

From Scottish Gaelic Cluaidh, of uncertain origin, possibly influenced by clut ("the cleansing one").

clyster

Origin

From Middle French clystere, or its Latin source, in turn from Ancient Greek κλυστήρ (klustḗr).

CMA

English

An initialism; the expansion depends on context — Certified Management Accountant, Competition and Markets Authority, or comparative market analysis.

CMO

English

An initialism of chief marketing officer.

CMS

English

An initialism of content management system.

CNC

English

An initialism of "computer numerical control," from the numerical-control machine tools of the mid twentieth century, which became computer-driven from the 1970s.

cnidarian

Origin

From translingual Cnidaria + -an, derived from New Latin Cnīdāria, derived from Ancient Greek κνῑ́δη (knī́dē, “sea nettle”).

cnut

Origin

From Middle English Knout, from Old English Cnut, from Old Norse Knútr.

co

Origin · 1970

Coined in 1970 by the feminist writer Mary Orovan as a gender-neutral alternative to "he" and "she", later adopted by some intentional communities.

coach

French · 1800

From the Hungarian town of Kocs, famous for building horse-drawn carriages; the word passed through German and French before reaching English. The "trainer" sense began as 19th-century Oxford student slang for a tutor who "carries" you through an exam.

coachee

Origin

From coach + -ee.

Coachella

Spanish · 1901

The city name dates to 1901; its origin is unclear, though it may be a misspelling of the Spanish word for "little shell".

coachman

Origin

A compound of coach and man.

coachwoman

Origin

From coach + woman.

coact

Origin

From the participle stem of Latin cōgō.

coadjutor

Origin

From Middle English coadjutowre, from Old French coadjuteur, borrowed from Late Latin coadiūtōrem, from co- + adiūtor (“helper”), from adiuvō (“to help”) + -tor (agent suffix). By surface analysis, co- + adjutor. The French derivation gave the accentuation co⁠ˈadjutor (used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge), but the poets generally, since 1600, appear to have coa⁠ˈdjutor, after Latin. No Latin *coadiuvō or *coadiūtō is recorded, but in the modern languages words have been formed on these types, suggested by coadjutor.

coagulate

Origin

From Middle English coagulaten (“(of blood) to clot or, make blood coagulate; (of tissue) to consolidate”), from coagulat(e) (“coagulated; (blood) clotted; (milk) curdled; (humor) thickened, viscous; (material) solidified, cohesive; (wine) boiled down, reduced”, also used as the past participle of coagulaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin coāgulātus, the perfect passive participle of coāgulō (“to curdle, coagulate”), from coāgulum (“a means of curdling, rennet”), from cōgō (“bring together, gather, collect”) + -ulum (forms instrument nouns), from co- (“together”) + agō (“do, make, drive”). Doublet of quail. Displaced native Middle English irennen, from Old English ġerinnan, but not native curdle.

coagulation

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French coagulation, from Latin coagulatio, coagulationem. Morphologically coagulate + -ion.

coal

Old English

From Old English col, from a very old Germanic word ultimately meaning "to burn" or "to shine".

coalesce

Origin

From Latin coalēscō, from co- + alēscō (“grow up”).

coalition

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin coalitio, related to Latin coalitus, "grown together" — the same root as coalesce.

coarse

Origin · 1700

Originally the same word as "course", it split off in spelling during the 1700s after developing the meaning "ordinary" and then "rough" or "unrefined".

coast

Latin

From Old French coste, "rib, side, coast", from Latin costa, "rib" — the coast was seen as the "side" or "edge" of the land.

coastal

Origin

Formed from coast plus the adjective suffix -al.

coaster

Origin

From coast (“edge of the land where it meets an ocean, sea, gulf, bay, or large lake”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns). Coast is derived from Middle English coste (“rib; side of the body, flank; side of a building; face of a solid figure; coast, shore; bay, gulf; sea; concavity, hollow; boundary, limit; land; country; district, province, region; locality, place; division of the heavens; compass direction; direction; location with reference to direction, side”) [and other forms], from Old French coste (“rib; side of an object; coast”) (modern French côte (“rib; coast; hill, slope”)), from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”).

coastline

Origin

A compound of coast and line.

coat

Latin

From Old French cote, "outer garment", from Latin cotta, "tunic", ultimately from a Proto-Germanic word for woolen cloth.

coath

Origin

From Middle English cothe, from Old English coþu (“disease, sickness, pestilence”), from Proto-Germanic *kuþō.