clever
/ˈklɛv.ɚ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.21 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas; intelligent.
adj
Mentally quick and resourceful; skilled at achieving what one wants in a mentally agile and inventive way.
adj
adj
Example Sentences
- "My dad is quite clever with his hands, especially at carpentry."
- "a. 1898, Francis James Child (collator), Child's Ballads, 198: "Bonny John Seton", The Highland men, they're clever men At handling sword and shield,"
- "The cleverest and most prolific inventors, such as Reiner Knizia (who lives in England) are nerdy superstars. Euro (also “German-style”) games must not be confused with “Ameritrash” games, which generally involve high drama and employ plastic pieces, though arguing over what the difference is seems to be gamers' second-favourite pastime."
- "clever like a fox"
- "With a clever lawyer, she could easily be acquitted."
- "1890, Joseph Jacobs (collator), Molly Whuppie, English Fairy Tales, The youngest of the three strange lassies was called Molly Whuppie, and she was very clever. She noticed that before they went to bed the giant put straw ropes round her neck and her sisters', and round his own lassies' necks, he put gold chains. So Molly took care and did not fall asleep, but waited till she was sure every one was sleeping sound. Then she slipped out of the bed, and took the straw ropes off her own and her sisters' necks, and took the gold chains off the giant's lassies. She then put the straw ropes on the giant's lassies and the gold on herself and her sisters, and lay down."
Etymology
From East Anglian dialectal English cliver (“expert at seizing”), from Middle English cliver (“tenacious”). * perhaps from Old English *clifer, clibbor (“clinging”); * or perhaps from Dutch, Low German, or East/Saterland Frisian (compare kluftich (“clever, prudent”), probably derived from Proto-West Germanic *kleuban (“to cleave, split”)); * or dialectal Norwegian klover (“ready, skillful”), itself borrowed from Middle Low German klever, related to kleven (“to stick”), from Old Saxon klibōn, from Proto-West Germanic *klibēn, related to the Old English word above; * possibly influenced by Old English clifer (“claw, hand”) (compare clawian (“to claw”)). Related to cleave. Perhaps influenced by Welsh celfydd (“talented, dexterous, expert”). Compare typologically Czech chytrý, Russian хи́трый (xítryj) (akin to хвата́ть (xvatátʹ)), also note схва́тывать на лету́ (sxvátyvatʹ na letú).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈklɛv.ɚ/
- British English: /ˈklɛv.ə/