clef

• cleff, cliff (both obsolete)

Borrowed from Middle French clef, from Latin clāvis (“a key”). Doublet of clave and clavis.

• IPA^(key): /klɛf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛf

clef (plural clefs)

2. (music) A symbol found on a musical staff that indicates the pitches represented by the lines and the spaces on the staff [from 16th c.]

• clé (more 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.

• IPA^(key): /kle/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

clef f (plural clefs)

1. alternative spelling of clé (“key”)
2. (music) clef
3. (heraldry) key; the device as shown on a coat of arms

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

Inherited from Old French clef.

clef f (plural clefs)

1. key

clef m or f (invariable)

1. key (vitally important)

• French: clef, clé
• → English: clef

Inherited from Latin clāvem.

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɛf/

clef oblique singular, f (oblique plural cles, nominative singular clef, nominative plural cles)

1. key

• Angevin: quié, quief
• Bourguignon: quié
• Champenois: quié
• French: clé, clef (less common), cleph (humorous)
• Gallo: tié
• Middle French: clef
  • French: clef, clé
  • → English: clef
• Norman: clef, clié, cllé
• Poitevin-Saintongeais: cllai
• Walloon: clé
• → English: clef