clé

• clef (less common)
• cleph (humorous)

Inherited from Middle French clef, from Old French clef, from Latin clāvis, from Proto-Italic *klāwis, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kleh₂w-. According to Bescherelle, the spelling clé had replaced clef by 1845.

• IPA^(key): /kle/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e
• Homophones: clef, clefs, clés

clé f (plural clés)

1. key (device for unlocking)
   • 2015, Zaz, Si jamais j'oublie:

     Et s'il me prend l'envie d' m'en aller, enferme-moi et jette la clé.

     And if I feel like leaving, lock me up and throw away the key.

2. (figurative) key (essential attribute)

   La différence est la clé de l'existence.

   Difference is the key to existence.

3. wrench, spanner
4. USB stick
5. (cryptography) key
6. (music) clef
7. (heraldry) key; the device as shown on a coat of arms

• → Vietnamese: cờ-lê

• serrure f
• verrou m

• “clé”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• clí (Galway)

From Old Irish clé, from Proto-Celtic *kliyā, substantivization of the adjective *kliyos (“left(hand)”). Cognate with Scottish Gaelic clì, Welsh cledd and Breton kleiz (all "left").

• IPA^(key): /clʲeː/
• (Galway) IPA^(key): /clʲiː/ (corresponding to the form clí)

clé f (genitive singular clé)

1. left (side opposite right)

• Archaic dative singular: clí

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “clé”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “clé”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 146
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “clé”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry [Phonetics of an Irish Dialect of Kerry] (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, page 33

• clay, glé’

clé

1. water

• comcom

• Anthony P. Grant, “Karankawa Linguistic Materials”, Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, volume 19, number 2 (1994)

From Proto-Celtic *kliyos.

• IPA^(key): [kʲlʲeː]

clé

1. left

• Middle Irish: clé
  • Irish: clé
  • Scottish Gaelic: clì
  • Manx: clee

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “clé”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

From Latin clāvis

• IPA^(key): /kle/

clé f (plural clés)

1. Key
2. wrench, spanner
3. (music) clef