YCLEPT

Etymology

Verb

yclept

past participle of clepe

Adjective

yclept (not comparable)

(archaic, poetic) Called, named.

Synonym: hight

Usage notes

• While clepe is obsolete, yclept is still occasionally used for humorous or archaic effect; as in the set phrase aptly yclept.

• A holdover from Middle English, yclept is one of the few English words where 'y' figures as a vowel at the beginning of a word. Others include yttrium and Yngling.

Source: Wiktionary


CLEPE

Clepe, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cleped or; p. pr. & vb. n. Cleping. Cf. Ycleped.] Etym: [AS. clepan, cleopian, clipian, clypian, to cry, call.]

Definition: To call, or name. [Obs.] That other son was cleped Cambalo. Chaucer.

Clepe, v. i.

Definition: To make appeal; to cry out. [Obs.] Wandering in woe, and to the heavens on high Cleping for vengeance of this treachery. Mir. for Mag.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

2 April 2025

COVERT

(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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