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Origin and history of clean

clean(adj.)

Old English clæne "free from dirt or filth, unmixed with foreign or extraneous matter; morally pure, chaste, innocent; open, in the open," of beasts, "not forbidden by ceremonial law to eat," from West Germanic *klainja- "clear, pure" (source also of Old Saxon kleni "dainty, delicate," Old Frisian klene "small," Old High German kleini "delicate, fine, small," German klein "small;" English preserves the original Germanic sense), perhaps from PIE root *gel- "bright, gleaming" (source also of Greek glene "eyeball," Old Irish gel "bright"). But Boutkan doubts the IE etymology and that the "clean" word and the "small" word are the same.

"Largely replaced by clear, pure in the higher senses" [Weekley], but as a verb (mid-15c.) it has largely usurped what once belonged to cleanse. Meaning "whole, entire" is from c. 1300 (clean sweep in the figurative sense is from 1821). Sense of "not lewd" (as in good, clean fun) is from 1867; that of "not carrying anything forbidden" is from 1938; that of "free of drug addiction" is from 1950s. To come clean "confess" is from 1919, American English.

clean(v.)

mid-15c., "make clean," from clean (adj.). Related: Cleaned; cleaning. From clean out "clean by emptying" comes sense of "to leave bare" (1844); cleaned-out "left penniless by losses" is from 1812.

clean(adv.)

Old English clæne "dirtlessly," also "clearly, fully, entirely;" see clean (adj.). Compare similar use of German rein "clean."

Entries linking to clean

cleanse(v.)

Old English clænsian "to make clean; purge, purify, chasten; justify," from West Germanic *klainson, from *klainoz (see clean (adj.)). Despite its modern spelling (16c.), it retains its Middle English pronunciation. Related: Cleansed; cleansing.

clear(adj.)

c. 1300, cler, "giving light, shining, luminous;" also "not turbid; transparent, allowing light to pass through; free from impurities; morally pure, guiltless, innocent;" from Old French cler "clear" (of sight and hearing), "light, bright, shining; sparse" (12c., Modern French clair), from Latin clarus "clear, loud," of sounds; figuratively "manifest, plain, evident," in transferred use, of sights, "bright, distinct;" also "illustrious, famous, glorious" (source of Italian chiaro, Spanish claro), which is reconstructed to be from PIE *kle-ro-, from root *kele- (2) "to shout."

The reconstructed prehistoric sense evolution to light and color involves an identification of the spreading of sound and the spreading of light (compare English loud, used of colors; German hell "clear, bright, shining," of pitch, "distinct, ringing, high").

Also from c. 1300 in English "beautiful, magnificent, excellent;" of land, "cleared, leveled." of colors, "bright, pure;" of weather or the sky or sea, "not stormy; mild, fair, not overcast, fully light, free from darkness or clouds;" of the eyes or vision, "clear, keen;" of the voice or sound, "plainly audible, distinct, resonant."

Also of the mind, "keen-witted, perspicacious;" of words or speech, "readily understood, manifest to the mind, lucid" (an Old English word for this was sweotol "distinct, clear, evident"); of land, "cleared, leveled." 

By c. 1300 in reference to complexions. Of possession or title, "unrestricted, unconditional, absolute," attested by early 15c. 

The sense of "free from encumbrance," later largely nautical, developed c. 1500. The meaning "obvious to the senses" is from 1835. 

Clear-sighted is from 1580s (clear-eyed is from 1520s); clear-headed is from 1709. For coast is clear see clear (v.).

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pure
mid-13c., of gold, "unalloyed;" c. 1300 "unmixed, unadulterated; homogeneous," also "total, complete, absolute; bare, mere," also "sexually pure, virgin, chaste" (late 12c. as a surname, and Old English had purlamb "lamb without a blemish"), from Old French pur "pure, simple, abs
clean-living
"of upright character and healthful habits, mentally and morally healthy," 1874, from the noun phrase; see clean (adj.) + living (n.). Clean Living is opposed to anything and everything which speaks for physical and mental disorder, dirt, disease, distress and discontent. Clean
clean-up
also cleanup, 1856, "act of cleaning up,  a general cleaning," from clean + up. Meaning "a profit" is recorded from 1878. Verbal phrase clean up "make a large profit" is from 1929. The adjective, in the baseball sense, is recorded by 1910 in reference to the hitter who bats
terse
1590s (implied in tersely), "clean-cut, burnished, neat," from French ters "clean," and directly from Latin tersus "wiped...off, clean, neat," from past participle of tergere "to rub, polish, wipe," which is of uncertain origin....
brush
late 15c., "clean or rub (clothing) with a brush," also (mid-15c.) "beat with a brush," from brush (n.1)....To brush up is from c. 1600 as "clean by brushing;" the figurative sense of "revive or refresh one's knowledge" of anything...
scour
c. 1200, scouren, "cleanse by hard rubbing," probably via Middle Dutch scuren, schuren "to polish, to clean," and from Old...French escurer, both from Late Latin excurare (Medieval Latin scurare) "clean off," literally "take good care of," from...
mundane
"of this world, worldly, terrestrial," from Old French mondain "of this world, worldly, earthly, secular;" also "pure, clean...classical Latin "a citizen of the world, cosmopolite," from mundus "universe, world," which is identical to mundus "clean...influence of it), Latin mundus also was used of a woman's "ornaments, dress," which also could entangle the adjective mundus "clean...
halter
Old English hælfter "rope for leading a horse," from Proto-Germanic *halftra- "that by which something is held" (source also of Old Saxon haliftra "halter," Old High German halftra, Middle Dutch halfter), from suffixed form of PIE *kelp- "to hold, grasp" (see helve). Also "hangma
lather
Old English leaþr "foam, soap, washing soda," from Proto-Germanic *lauthran (source also of Old Norse lauðr "washing soap, foam"), from PIE *loutro- (source also of Gaulish lautron, Old Irish loathar "bathing tub," Greek louein "to bathe," Latin lavere "to wash"), which is from r
change
c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),

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