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claviform

cla·vi·form/ˈklævɪˌfɔɹm/adjective, noun

claviform is an adjective meaning “Larger at the tip than at the base; club-shaped” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-L-A-V-I-F-O-R-M and has 3 syllables (cla·vi·form), and it appears about once in every 55 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does claviform mean?

adjective

  1. 1

    Larger at the tip than at the base; club-shaped.

  2. 2

    Shaped like a nail (“a metallic spike-shaped fastener”).

  3. 3

    Key-shaped.

noun

  1. 1

    An image or symbol which is club-shaped, that is, larger at the tip than at the base.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce claviform?

  • UK /ˈklævɪfɔːm/
  • UK /ˈkleɪ-/
  • US /ˈklævɪˌfɔɹm/

Claviform has 3 syllables, split cla·vi·form in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-claviform.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of claviform

  • more claviform comparative
  • most claviform superlative
  • claviforms plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is claviform?

Claviform appears about once in every 55 million words in written English, the 231,291st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Claviform in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchclaviforme (larger at the tip than at the base; club-shaped)
Germanclaviform, keulenförmig, kolbenförmig (larger at the tip than at the base; club-shaped), schlüsselförmig (key-shaped)
Spanishclaviforme (larger at the tip than at the base; club-shaped)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does claviform come from?

The adjective is derived from Latin clāvifōrmis (“club-shaped, claviform”), from Latin clāva (“a club”) (from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat; to break”)) + -fōrmis (suffix meaning ‘having the form of’) (equivalent to -form, -iform). The English word is cognate with French claviforme. By surface analysis, clav(a) + -i- + form. The noun is probably derived from the adjective.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).