Where does “click” come from?

Click comes from Middle English cleken, from Old Norse klekja, from Proto-Germanic klukjaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European glew-.

click (English): A brief, sharp, not particularly loud, relatively...

Definitions

  1. A brief, sharp, not particularly loud, relatively...

Ancestry of “click”, step by step

click traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Middle English cleken

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishclekento seize, clutch; to hatch
2Middle Englishclechento grab
3Old Englishclēċan
4Old Englishclyċċanto clutch, clench
5Proto-Germanicklukjaną
6Proto-Germanicklu-to ball up, conglomerate, amass
7Proto-Indo-Europeanglew-Alternative form of *gley-; to amass,...
8Proto-Indo-Europeanǵel-to swallow; swallow

via English clickhaler

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishclickhalerAn inhaler in which the medicine is released by...

Words derived from “click

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵel-