The sense of “clew” or “clue” as a key to a problem emerged in the early 1600s, originally as a figurative use of that earlier word.Īs the OED explains, it meant “a ball of thread, employed to guide any one in ‘threading’ his way into or out of a labyrinth … or maze.” So how did the ball of yarn become the word we know from crime reports and mystery novels? The “clue” spelling first appeared in the 1400s, became frequent in the 1600s, and is now the dominant form of the word. These spellings all became “ue” in modern English, and the same happened with “clew.” Several English words now spelled “ue” were once spelled “ew,” including “blew” (for blue), “glew” (for glue), “rew” (for rue), “dew” (for due), “sew” (for sue), and “trew” (for true). Such “ew” spellings were once more common in English than they are today. In the Middle English period the “n” was dropped and the “ew” spelling was introduced. The word was recorded in Old English (usually spelled cliwen or cleowen) as long ago as 897. To this day, the word for a ball of yarn is spelled “clew” in Scotland and the north of England, the OED says. The OED says “clew” originally meant a ball formed by rolling pieces together, as in a ball of yarn or twine. Your question gives us a chance to discuss the fascinating history of “clew,” a very old word whose meaning as well as spelling evolved over the years. 1, 1969, headline about the murder of the Rev. You can still find the “clew” spelling in old American newspapers, however, as you learned when you came across that Oct. “Clue,” as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, is “has now become the prevailing form” for this meaning of the word. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.) says this use of “clew” is chiefly British, but the British dictionaries we checked describe the spelling as rare or archaic.
Many readers would consider it a misspelling. Although a few standard dictionaries include “clew” as a variant spelling of “clue,” the usage is unusual and we wouldn’t recommend it.
CLEW VS CLUE ARCHIVE
Q: Can “clue” and “clew” be used interchangeably? I was browsing in the Chicago Tribune archive and came across this headline: “CLEWS FADING IN MURDER OF CLERIC, WIFE.”Ī: Not really.
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