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PlainSpell

claw

UK /klɔː/noun, verb

claw is spelled C-L-A-W: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, claw means “A curved, pointed, horny projection on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of claw is claws.

How many letters and syllables are in claw?

Letters4: C-L-A-W
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.9 times per million words; the 13,127th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is claw?

Claw appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th 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).

How do you pronounce claw?

  • /klɔ/
  • /klɑ/
  • UK /klɔː/

Claw has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-claw.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with claw?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as claw from its last stressed vowel (/ɔ/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: cawl.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of claw

  • claws plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • clawing participle, present
  • clawed participle, past

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

What does claw mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A curved, pointed, horny projection on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird.

  2. 2

    A foot equipped with such.

  3. 3

    The pincer (chela) of a crustacean or other arthropod.

  4. 4

    A mechanical device resembling a claw, used for gripping or lifting.

  5. 5

    colloquialA human fingernail, particularly one extending well beyond the fingertip.

  6. 6

    A slender appendage or process, formed like a claw, such as the base of petals of the pink.

  7. 7

    The act of catching a ball overhand.

  8. 8

    A tree with one internal vertex and three leaves.

verb

  1. 1

    To scratch or to tear at.

  2. 2

    To use the claws to seize, to grip.

  3. 3

    To use the claws to climb.

  4. 4

    To perform a claw catch.

  5. 5

    To move with one's fingertips.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo relieve an uneasy feeling, such as an itch, by scratching (someone or something); hence (figuratively), to flatter or humour (someone); to court, to fawn on.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo rail at, revile, or scold (someone or something).

  8. 8

    obsoleteTo do (something) quickly.

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

How do you abbreviate claw?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of claw: CKL.

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

Claw in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgriffe (curved horny nail), pince (pincer of a crustacean), griffer (scratch or tear at), s'agripper (to use claws to seize, to grip)
GermanKlaue, Kralle (curved horny nail), Schere (pincer of a crustacean), kratzen, zerkratzen (scratch or tear at), Greifer (mechanical device for gripping)
Portuguesegarra (curved horny nail), puã, tenaz (pincer of a crustacean), unhar (scratch or tear at), agarrar (to use claws to seize, to grip)
Spanishgarra (curved horny nail), pinza, tenaza (pincer of a crustacean), arañar (scratch or tear at), agarrar (to use claws to seize, to grip), zarpa (foot equipped with such)

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 claw come from?

From Middle English clawe, from Old English clawu, from Proto-Germanic *klawō. Compare West Frisian klau, Dutch klauw, German Klaue, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish klo.

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

What to look up after claw