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Added 9 October 2026

cloud

/ˈklaʊ̯d/ noun

In Latin: nūbēs Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about cloud at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Any collection of particles (e.g., smoke or dust) or gases that is visible.
A visible mass of water or ice particles suspended at a considerable altitude.
Out of touch with reality.
his head was in the clouds

verb

Make overcast or cloudy.
Fall weather often overcasts our beaches
Make less visible or unclear.
The stars are obscured by the clouds
Billow up in the form of a cloud.
The smoke clouded above the houses

Origin

From Middle English cloud, from Old English clūd (“mass of stone, rock, boulder, hill”), from Proto-West Germanic *klūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, *klutaz (“lump, mass, conglomeration”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, clench”). Cognate with Scots clood, clud (“cloud”), Dutch kluit (“lump, mass, clod”), German Low German Kluut, Kluute (“lump, mass, ball”), German Kloß (“lump, ball, dumpling”), Danish klode (“sphere, orb, planet”), Swedish klot (“sphere, orb, ball, globe”), Icelandic klót (“knob on a sword's hilt”). Related to English clod, clot, clump, club.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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