clean
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "clean", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "clean" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "clean" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
clean is anEnglishadj. It means: Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled. Pronounced /kliːn/. It ranks #1,135 in English word frequency. Often confused with Cleo and clem.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | clean |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adj |
| IPA | /kliːn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,135 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for clean is 5 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kliːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,135 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 22 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for clean, with forms such as "cclean", "celan", and "claen". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Cleo", "clem", "cyan", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English clene, clane, from Old English clǣne (“clean, pure”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“shining, fine, splendid, tender”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *glēy- (“gleaming”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to gleam”). Cognate with S… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is clean, spelled C-L-E-A-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
- 2Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
- 3Free of contamination, (unwanted) germs, infection, or disease.
- 4Free of contamination, (unwanted) germs, infection, or disease.
- 5Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
- 6Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
- 7Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
- 8Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
- 9Free of immorality or criminality.
- 10Free of immorality or criminality.
- 11Free of immorality or criminality.
- 12Free of immorality or criminality.
- 13Free of immorality or criminality.
- 14Free of infiltration by covert listening or recording devices (bugs), enemy spies, etc.
- 15Empty.
- 16Smooth, exact, and performed well.
- 17That does not damage the environment (as much as some alternative).
- 18Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
- 19Having the undercarriage and flaps in the up position.
- 20Well-proportioned; shapely.
- 21Cool or neat.
- 22Utter, complete, total; pure; free from restraint.
Etymology
From Middle English clene, clane, from Old English clǣne (“clean, pure”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“shining, fine, splendid, tender”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *glēy- (“gleaming”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to gleam”). Cognate with Scots clean (“absolute, pure, clear, empty”) and clene, clane (“clean”), North Frisian klien (“small”), West Frisian klien (“small”), klean (“clean”), Dutch klein (“small”), Low German kleen (“small”), German klein (“small”), Swedish klen (“weak, feeble, delicate”), Icelandic klénn (“poor, feeble, petty, snug, puny, cheesy, lame”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cclean,celan,claen,cleann,clena,cllean,lcean
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for clean
Misspelling Variants of "clean"
Frequency rank: #1,135 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: