17th century, from Schlüssel (“key”) + Bein (“bone”), after New Latin clāvicula (literally “little key”). Compare Dutch sleutelbeen, Swedish nyckelben, Czech klíční kost, etc., some of which may be loan translations of the German.
Schlüsselbein n (strong, genitive Schlüsselbeines or Schlüsselbeins, plural Schlüsselbeine)
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indef. | def. | noun | def. | noun | |
| nominative | ein | das | Schlüsselbein | die | Schlüsselbeine |
| genitive | eines | des | Schlüsselbeines, Schlüsselbeins | der | Schlüsselbeine |
| dative | einem | dem | Schlüsselbein, Schlüsselbeine1 | den | Schlüsselbeinen |
| accusative | ein | das | Schlüsselbein | die | Schlüsselbeine |
1Now rare, see notes.