The word cloud comes from Old English clūd, meaning “rock” or “hill,” making it a relative of the word clod. The sense of a “hill” or “mass of rocks” was later applied to those vaporous hills in the sky. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “”Cloud” and “Clod” Share a History”
We think of clouds as light and vaporous, but the history of this word is really fascinating.
The word cloud comes from the Old English clued, which means a massive rock or a hill, like a giant clump of earth or mound. And it actually shares a common ancestor with the word clod, which I never thought about, but now whenever I look at clouds, I think, oh, that’s just a big clod. A clod of humidity. Yeah.
Yeah, but yeah, as late as the 15th century, the word cloud could mean a mass of rock.
Oh, interesting. It’s just a clump of droplets. Right. A clod of droplets. Right.
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