. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English clene, clane, from Old English clǣne (“clean, pure”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“shining, fine, splendid, tender”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *glēy- (“gleaming”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to gleam”).
Cognate with Scots clean (“absolute, pure, clear, empty”) and clene, clane (“clean”), North Frisian klien (“small”), Dutch klein (“small”), Low German kleen (“small”), German klein (“small”), Swedish klen (“weak, feeble, delicate”), Icelandic klénn (“poor, feeble, petty, snug, puny, cheesy, lame”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
clean (comparative cleaner, superlative cleanest)
- (physical) Free of dirt or impurities.
- Not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
Are these dishes clean?
Your room is finally clean!
For a baby, happiness is a full bottle and a clean diaper.
1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., , , →OCLC:Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
- In an unmarked condition.
Put a clean sheet of paper into the printer.
- (aerodynamics) Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
- (aviation) Having the undercarriage and flaps in the up position.
- Antonym: dirty
- Empty.
The cargo hold is clean. Mister, I want to see a clean dinner plate or there'll be no dessert for you.
- (of metal) Having relatively few impurities.
clean steel
- (behavioural) Free of immorality or criminality.
- Pure, especially morally or religiously.
Our kids can watch this movie because it is clean.
1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. , volume II, London: Edward Moxon, , published 1842, →OCLC, page 63:Ah! let me knot be fool'd, sweet saints. I trust / That I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven.
1914, Parliamentary Debates, volume 168, New Zealand, page 195:I do not think there is any member in this House who will not agree that that is the clean thing to do. Any member sitting on the Government benches will admit in private that that is the proper course for members who break faith.
- Not having used drugs or alcohol.
I've been clean this time for eight months.
- (of criminal, driving, etc. records) Without restrictions or penalties, or someone having such a record.
Unlike you, I’ve never caused any accidents — my record is still clean!
- (informal) Not in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs.
I'm clean, officer. You can go ahead and search me if you want.
- (informal) Devoid of profanity.
- Smooth, exact, and performed well.
I'll need a sharper knife to make clean cuts. a clean leap over a fence
- (obsolete) Total; utter. (still in "clean sweep")
1655, James Howell, “To the Right Honourable the Earl of Clare”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. , 3rd edition, volume (please specify the page), London: Humphrey Mosley, , →OCLC:Moreover, I find there are some Words now in French which are turned to a Countersense […] Cocu is taken for one whose Wife is light, and hath made him a passive Cuckold; whereas clean contrary, Cocu, which is the Cuckow, doth use to lay her Eggs in another Bird's Nest.
- (informal) Cool or neat.
Wow, dude, those are some clean shoes ya got there!
- (health) Devoid of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
I want to make sure my fiancé is clean before we are married.
- That does not damage the environment.
clean energy; clean coal
- Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects.
clean land; clean timber
- Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire.
- Well-proportioned; shapely.
clean limbs
- (climbing, of a route) Ascended without falling.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
not dirty
- Adyghe: къабзэ (qabzɛ)
- Afrikaans: skoon
- Albanian: pastër (sq)
- American Sign Language: OpenB@BasePalm-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterChesthigh-PalmUp OpenB@Finger-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterChesthigh-PalmUp
- Amharic: please add this translation if you can
- Arabic: نَظِيف (naẓīf)
- Egyptian Arabic: نضيف (naḍīf)
- Aragonese: limpio, neto
- Armenian: մաքուր (hy) (makʻur)
- Aromanian: curat, albu (roa-rup), spilat, chischin, spastru, pãstrit
- Assamese: চফা (sopha), চাফা (sapha), চাফ চিকুণ (saph sikun), চিকুণ (sikun), পৰিষ্কাৰ (poriskar)
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܕܸܟ݂ܝܵܐ m (diḳya), ܬܲܡܸܙ (tāmiz)
- Asturian: llimpiu
- Azerbaijani: təmiz (az), arı (az)
- Bashkir: таҙа (taźa)
- Basque: garbi
- Belarusian: чы́сты (čýsty)
- Bengali: পরিষ্কার (bn) (poriśkar), সাফ (bn) (śaph)
- Breton: dilastez
- Bulgarian: чист (bg) (čist)
- Burmese: သန့် (my) (san.)
- Catalan: net (ca)
- Chechen: цӏена (cʼena)
- Cherokee: ᎤᏓᏅᎦᎸᏓ (udanvgalvda)
- Chickasaw: chifata, chofata
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 乾淨/干净 (gon1 zeng6)
- Mandarin: 乾淨/干净 (zh) (gānjìng)
- Chuvash: таса (tas̬a)
- Cornish: glan
- Czech: čistý (cs) m
- Danish: ren (da)
- Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
- Dutch: schoon (nl), proper (nl)
- Egyptian: (wꜥb)
- Esperanto: pura
- Estonian: puhas (et)
- Faroese: reinur
- Finnish: puhdas (fi)
- French: propre (fr), net (fr)
- Friulian: net
- Galician: limpo (gl)
- Georgian: სუფთა (supta)
- German: sauber (de), rein (de)
- Gothic: 𐌷𐌻𐌿𐍄𐍂𐍃 (hlutrs)
- Greek: καθαρός (el) (katharós)
- Ancient: καθαρός (katharós)
- Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
- Hausa: tsari
- Hawaiian: maʻemaʻe
- Hebrew: נָקִי (he) (nakí)
- Hindi: साफ़ (sāf), स्वच्छ (hi) (svacch)
- Hungarian: tiszta (hu)
- Icelandic: hreinn (is)
- Ido: neta (io)
- Igbo: ocha, ucha
- Indonesian: bersih (id)
- Ingush: цӏена (cʼena)
- Interlingua: munde, nette
- Irish: glan (ga)
- Italian: pulito (it)
- Japanese: 清い (ja) (きよい, kiyoi), 清潔な (ja) (せいけつな, seiketsu na), 綺麗な (ja) (きれいな, kirei na)
- Javanese: resik (jv)
- Kannada: please add this translation if you can
- Kashmiri: صاف (sāf)
- Kazakh: таза (taza), саф (saf)
- Khmer: ស្អាត (km) (sʼaat)
- Korean: 깨끗하다 (ko) (kkaekkeuthada), 맑다 (ko) (makda)
- Kumyk: таза (taza)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: پاک (pak), خاوێن (xawên)
- Northern Kurdish: paqij (ku)
- Kyrgyz: аруу (ky) (aruu), пакиз (pakiz), таза (ky) (taza)
- Ladin: nët
- Lao: ສະອາດ (sa ʼāt)
- Latin: pūrus, mundus, tersus
- Latvian: tīrs (lv)
- Lithuanian: švarus
- Lombard: nett
- Luxembourgish: propper
- Macedonian: чист (čist)
- Maguindanao: matilak
- Malay: bersih (ms)
- Malayalam: വൃത്തിയായ (vr̥ttiyāya), ശുദ്ധ (ml) (śuddha)
- Maltese: nadif (mt)
- Maori: mā (mi)
- Meänkieli: puhas
- Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
- Mongolian: цэвэр (mn) (cever)
- Nepali: सफा (saphā)
- Norman: net (Jersey), naette (Guernsey), propre m or f
- Occitan: net (oc)
- Odia: please add this translation if you can
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: чистъ (čistŭ)
- Old English: clǣne
- Ossetian: сыгъдӕг (syǧdæg)
- Ottoman Turkish: آری (arı), تمیز (temiz), صفی (safi), پاك (pak)
- Pashto: پاک (ps) (pâk)
- Persian: پاک (fa) (pâk), تمیز (fa) (tamiz)
- Plautdietsch: rein
- Polabian: caistĕ m
- Polish: czysty (pl) m
- Portuguese: limpo (pt), asseado (pt)
- Punjabi:
- Gurmukhi: ਸਾਫ਼ (pa) (sāf)
- Shahmukhi: سُتْھرا m (suthrā), صاف (ṣāf), صاف سُتْھرا m (ṣāf suthrā)
- Quechua: llimphu
- Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
- Romanian: curat (ro)
- Russian: чи́стый (ru) (čístyj)
- Scottish Gaelic: glan
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: чи̏ст
- Roman: čȉst (sh)
- Shor: арығ (arığ)
- Sicilian: pulitu (scn)
- Sindhi: صاف (sāf)
- Sinhalese: පිරිසුදු (pirisudu)
- Slovak: čistý
- Slovene: čist (sl)
- Somali: nadiif
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: cysty
- Southern Altai: ару (aru)
- Spanish: limpio (es)
- Swahili: nadhifu, safi (sw)
- Swedish: ren (sv)
- Sylheti: ꠌꠣꠚꠣ (safá)
- Tagalog: malinis
- Tajik: пок (pok), тоза (tg) (toza), покиза (pokiza), соф (sof), тамиз (tamiz)
- Tamil: சுத்தம் (ta) (cuttam)
- Tatar: таза (taza), саф (tt) (saf), чиста (çista)
- Thai: สะอาด (th) (sà-àat)
- Tibetan: གཙང་མ (gtsang ma)
- Turkish: temiz (tr), arı (tr), arın (tr)
- Turkmen: tämiz
- Tuvan: арыг (arıg)
- Ukrainian: чи́стий (čýstyj)
- Urdu: صاف (sāf)
- Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
- Uzbek: toza (uz), pok (uz), pokiza (uz)
- Venetian: néto, net
- Vietnamese: sạch sẽ (vi), sạch (vi)
- Volapük: klinik (vo)
- Welsh: glân (cy)
- White Hmong: huv
- Yakut: ыраас (ıraas)
- Yiddish: ריין (reyn)
|
pure, especially morally or religiously
not having used mind-altering or mood-changing substances
without restrictions or penalties
allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces
not having sexually transmitted diseases
not in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs
Translations to be checked
Noun
clean (plural cleans)
- Removal of dirt.
This place needs a clean.
- (weightlifting) The first part of the event clean and jerk in which the weight is brought from the ground to the shoulders.
Derived terms
Translations
first part of "clean and jerk" weightlifting
Verb
clean (third-person singular simple present cleans, present participle cleaning, simple past and past participle cleaned)
- (transitive) To remove dirt from a place or object.
Can you clean the windows today?
- (transitive) To tidy up, make a place neat.
Clean your room right now!
- (transitive, climbing) To remove equipment from a climbing route after it was previously lead climbed.
- (intransitive) To make things clean in general.
She just likes to clean. That’s why I married her.
- (transitive, computing) To remove unnecessary files, etc. from (a directory, etc.).
- (intransitive, curling) To brush the ice lightly in front of a moving rock to remove any debris and ensure a correct line; less vigorous than a sweep.
- (manga fandom slang) To purge a raw of any blemishes caused by the scanning process such as brown tinting and poor color contrast.
- (video games) Synonym of clean up
- To remove guts and/or scales of a butchered animal.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
(transitive) to remove dirt from a place or object
- Albanian: pastroj (sq)
- Arabic: نَظَّفَ (naẓẓafa)
- Armenian: մաքրել (hy) (makʻrel), սրբել (hy) (srbel)
- Aromanian: cur, pãstrescu
- Assamese: চফা কৰা (sopha kora), চাফা কৰা (sapha kora), চাফ চিকুণ কৰা (saph sikun kora), চিকুণ কৰা (sikun kora), পৰিষ্কাৰ কৰা (poriskar kora)
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܕܵܟ݂ܹܐ (daḳe), ܬܲܡܸܙ (tāmiz)
- Asturian: llimpiar
- Azerbaijani: təmizləmək (az), arıtmaq
- Belarusian: чы́сціць impf (čýscicʹ), пачы́сціць pf (pačýscicʹ)
- Bengali: পরিষ্কার করা (poriśkar kora), সাফ করা (bn) (śaph kora)
- Breton: dilouzañ (br), disaotrañ (br)
- Bulgarian: чи́стя (bg) impf (čístja)
- Catalan: netejar (ca)
- Cherokee: ᎦᏅᎦᎵᎭ (ganvgaliha)
- Chickasaw: chifalli, chofalli, chofatli
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 打掃/打扫 (zh) (dǎsǎo)
- Cornish: glanhe
- Czech: čistit (cs) impf, vyčistit (cs) pf
- Danish: rense
- Dutch: schoonmaken (nl), kuisen (nl), poetsen (nl), reinigen (nl), wassen (nl)
- Esperanto: poluri
- Estonian: puhastama
- Finnish: puhdistaa (fi), siivota (fi), siistiä (fi), putsata (fi)
- French: nettoyer (fr), poutzer (fr) (Switzerland)
- Friulian: netâ
- Galician: limpar (gl)
- Georgian: წმენდა (c̣menda), გასუფთავება (gasuptaveba)
- German: reinigen (de), säubern (de), putzen (de), abwischen (de)
- Alemannic German: abbuddse
- Gothic: 𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hrainjan)
- Greek: καθαρίζω (el) (katharízo)
- Guaraní: mopotĩ
- Haitian Creole: netwaye
- Hindi: साफ़ करना (sāf karnā)
- Hungarian: tisztít (hu)
- Icelandic: þrífa, hreinsa (is)
- Ido: netigar (io)
- Irish: glan (ga)
- Italian: pulire (it), nettare (it)
- Japanese: 掃除する (ja) (そうじする, sōji suru), 清潔にする (ja) (seiketsu ni suru)
- Kabuverdianu: linpa
- Kashmiri: چھَلُن (chalun), صاف کَرُن (sāf karun)
- Kazakh: тазалау (tazalau)
- Khmer: សំអាត (km) (somāt), ជំរះ (jŭmrēah), ដុសលាង (dohlīəng)
- Korean: 청소하다 (ko) (cheongsohada)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: پاک کردن (pak kirdin)
- Ladin: puzné
- Lao: please add this translation if you can
- Latin: purgo, mundo, tergeo
- Latvian: notirit, tīrīt
- Lithuanian: valyti, švarinti
- Lombard: nettà (lmo), netà (lmo)
- Luxembourgish: botzen, rengegen, propper maachen
- Macedonian: чисти impf (čisti)
- Malayalam: വൃത്തിയാക്കുക (vr̥ttiyākkuka)
- Maltese: naddaf
- Maori: horoi
- Mbyá Guaraní: ky'a'o
- Mongolian: цэвэрлэх (mn) (ceverlex)
- Neapolitan: pulizzà
- Nepali: सफा गर्नु (saphā garnu)
- Norman: netti (Jersey)
- Norwegian: gjøre (no) rent
- Occitan: netejar (oc)
- Odia: please add this translation if you can
- Old English: clǣnsian
- Ottoman Turkish: تمیزلهمك (temizlemek)
- Persian: تمیز کردن (fa) (tamiz kardan)
- Polish: czyścić (pl) impf, oczyszczać (pl) impf, oczyścić (pl) pf, sprzątać (pl)
- Portuguese: limpar (pt)
- Quechua: mayllay, pichay
- Romanian: curăța (ro), șterge (ro)
- Russian: чи́стить (ru) impf (čístitʹ), почи́стить (ru) pf (počístitʹ), вы́чистить (ru) pf (výčistitʹ), очища́ть (ru) impf (očiščátʹ), очи́стить (ru) pf (očístitʹ)
- Scots: dicht
- Scottish Gaelic: glan
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: чи̏стити impf
- Roman: čȉstiti (sh) impf
- Sicilian: puliri (scn)
- Sindhi: صاف ڪرڻ
- Skolt Sami: čiistâd
- Slovak: čistiť impf
- Slovene: čistiti (sl) impf
- Spanish: limpiar (es)
- Swahili: -safisha (sw)
- Swedish: rengöra (sv), göra ren
- Tagalog: linisin, linisan
- Tamil: சுத்தமாக்கு (cuttamākku)
- Telugu: శుభ్రం చేయు (śubhraṁ cēyu)
- Thai: ล้าง (th) (láang), เช็ด (th) (chét)
- Tibetan: གཙང་མ་བཟོས (gtsang ma bzos)
- Turkish: temizlemek (tr)
- Tuvan: чуур (çuur)
- Ukrainian: чи́стити impf (čýstyty), почи́стити pf (počýstyty)
- Venetian: netare (vec), netar
- Vietnamese: lau (vi), làm sạch
- Welsh: glanhau (cy)
- White Hmong: ntxuav
- Yiddish: פּוצן (putsn), רייניקן (reynikn)
- Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
|
(transitive) to tidy up
- Armenian: մաքրել (hy) (makʻrel)
- Azerbaijani: yığışdırmaq, səliqəyə salmaq
- Bengali: সাফ করা (bn) (śaph kora)
- Bulgarian: разтребвам (bg) (raztrebvam)
- Catalan: netejar (ca), arreglar (ca), ordenar (ca)
- Chickasaw: chifalli, chofalli, chofatli
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 整理 (zh) (zhěnglǐ)
- Czech: uklidit (cs)
- Dutch: opruimen (nl)
- Finnish: siivota (fi)
- French: ranger (fr)
- Friulian: netâ
- German: aufräumen (de), putzen (de)
- Greek: συμμαζεύω (el) (symmazévo)
- Hebrew: מנקה m (menakeh)
- Hindi: साफ़ करना (sāf karnā)
- Irish: glan (ga)
- Italian: ordinare (it)
- Japanese: 整理する (ja) (せいりする, sēri suru), 整頓する (ja) (せいとんする, sēton suru)
- Kashmiri: صاف کَرُن (sāf karun)
- Korean: 청소하다 (ko) (cheongsohada), 소제하다 (ko) (sojehada)
- Ladin: rumé su, puzné
- Latin: ordinō
- Maori: whakapai
- Mongolian: цэвэрлэх (mn) (ceverlex), цэгцлэх (mn) (cegclex), эмхлэх (mn) (emxlex)
- Portuguese: arrumar (pt)
- Russian: убира́ть (ru) impf (ubirátʹ), убра́ть (ru) pf (ubrátʹ), чи́стить (ru) impf (čístitʹ), почи́стить (ru) pf (počístitʹ)
- Scots: dicht
- Scottish Gaelic: glan
- Slovene: čistiti (sl)
- Spanish: arreglar (es)
- Swedish: städa (sv)
- Tagalog: linisin, ayusin (tl)
- Thai: เก็บกวาด (th) (gèp-gwàat)
|
(transitive) to remove equipment from climbing route
(intransitive) to make things clean
(intransitive) to brush lightly in front of a curling rock
Translations to be checked
Adverb
clean (comparative cleaner, superlative cleanest)
- Fully and completely.
He was stabbed clean through.
You must be clean mad.
1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:So, since all my pains in his direction were clean thrown away, there was nothing left for me but to scurry back to Marjorie, — so I scurried, and I found the house empty, no one there, and Marjorie gone.
1951 October, William B. Stocks, “A Few Miles from Huddersfield”, in Railway Magazine, page 701:A feat sometimes achieved by outstanding local athletes is to throw a cricket ball clean over the top [of the viaduct].
1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.
- (professional wrestling slang) To defeat an opponent without using submission holds, disqualification, interference, etc. (i.e. by pinfall).
Derived terms
Translations
Anagrams
Danish
Etymology
Borrowed from English clean.
Adjective
clean (neuter clean, plural and definite singular attributive clean)
- drugfree, not having used recreational drugs
German
Etymology
Borrowed from English clean. Doublet of klein.
Pronunciation
Adjective
clean (strong nominative masculine singular cleaner, comparative cleaner, superlative am cleansten)
- (colloquial) clean, drugfree
1984 March 26, “99 Luftballons und das Chaos der Gefühle”, in Der Spiegel, number 13:Nenas Image ist so clean, daß ein paar Zeitschriften nun nach dunklen Punkten suchen und sie erfinden, weil nichts zu finden ist.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Declension
Comparative forms of clean
Superlative forms of clean
Further reading
- “clean” in Duden online
- “clean” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
Manx
Etymology
From Old Irish clíabán.
Noun
clean m (genitive singular clean, plural cleanyn)
- cradle (oscillating bed for a baby)
Ta dooinney ny ghaa leaystey clean nagh vel bentyn da hene.- There’s a man or two rocking the cradle of another man’s child.
- cot
- cage (of birds)
- pannier
Mutation
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Bulgarian клян (kljan), from Proto-Slavic *klěnь.
Noun
clean m (plural cleni)
- chub (Squalius cephalus)
Declension