# clock

> English word · Noun · IPA /klɒk/ · frequency rank #3,414

## Definitions
1. A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day.
2. A common noun relating to an instrument that measures or keeps track of time.
3. The odometer of a motor vehicle.
4. An electrical signal that synchronizes timing among digital circuits of semiconductor chips or modules.
5. The seed head of a dandelion.
6. A time clock.
7. A CPU clock cycle, or T-state.
8. A luck-based patience or solitaire card game with the cards laid out to represent the face of a clock.
9. A watch (timepiece).
10. A face; the head.

## Etymology
First use appears c. 1370. From Middle English clokke, clok, cloke (“clock”), from Middle Dutch clocke (“bell, clock”), from Old Dutch *klokka, from Medieval Latin clocca (“bell, clock, cloak”), probably of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *klokkos (“bell”) (compare Welsh cloch (“bell”), Old Irish cloc (“bell, clock”)), either onomatopoeic or from Proto-Indo-European *klek- (“to laugh, cackle”) (compare Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną (“to laugh”)). Cognate with Old English clucge (“bell”), Saterland Frisian Klokke (“bell, clock”), Dutch klok (“clock, bell”), Low German Klock (“bell, clock”), German Glocke (“bell”), Danish and Norwegian klokke (“clock, bell”), Faroese klokka (“clock, bell”), Icelandic klukka (“clock, bell”), Swedish klocka (“clock, bell”), Asturian llueca (“cowbell”), Galician and Portuguese choca (“cowbell”), Doublet of cloak and cloche.

## Easily confused with
- **CoC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-coc)
- **cook** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-cook)
- **cock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-cock)
- **cork** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-cork)
- **coca** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-coca)
- **coco** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-coco)
- **clot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-clot)
- **clog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-clog)
- **croc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-croc)
- **cuck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-cuck)
- **Clos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-clos)
- **close** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-close)
- **cloud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-cloud)
- **crack** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-crack)
- **cloth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-cloth)
- **clown** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-clown)
- **clone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-clone)
- **cocks** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-cocks)
- **crook** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-crook)
- **cocky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/clock-vs-cocky)

## Common misspellings (8)
`cclock`, `clcok`, `cllock`, `clocck`, `clockk`, `clokc`, `colck`, `lcock`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/clock