English word origin

Etymology of Clare

The anglicized spelling of Irish Clár, from Old Irish clár (“plank, board”), from Proto-Celtic *klāros, *klārom (“table”).

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗

In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗

name

A county of Ireland. · A town in County Cavan, Ireland. · A district municipality in Digby County, Nova Scotia, Canada, named after County Clare. · An unincorporated community in DeKalb County, Illinois.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

The anglicized spelling of Irish Clár, from Old Irish clár (“plank, board”), from Proto-Celtic *klāros, *klārom (“table”).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Derivation mentionClárga
Derivation mentionclársga · plank, board
Derivation mention*klāroscel-pro

This page abbreviates 8 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ga",
        "3": "Clár"
      },
      "expansion": "Irish Clár"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sga",
        "3": "clár",
        "t": "plank, board"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Irish clár (“plank, board”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cel-pro",
        "3": "*klāros"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Celtic *klāros"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "Clár",
      "Clár#Irish"
    ],
    [
      "clár",
      "clár#Old_Irish"
    ],
    [
      "*klāros",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/klāros"
    ],
    [
      "*klārom",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/klārom"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "name",
      "glosses": [
        "A county of Ireland.",
        "A town in County Cavan, Ireland.",
        "A district municipality in Digby County, Nova Scotia, Canada, named after County Clare.",
        "An unincorporated community in DeKalb County, Illinois."
      ],
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  }
}

Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗

name

A unisex given name from Latin, more often spelled Claire from the 20th century onward. · A small town and civil parish with a town council in West Suffolk district, Suffolk, England, previously in St Edmundsbury district (OS grid ref TL7745). · A hamlet in Pyrton parish, South Oxfordshire district, Oxfordshire, England (OS grid ref SU6798). · Ellipsis of Clare College, Cambridge.

noun

Synonym of Poor Clare: a nun of the Order of Saint Clare.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Medieval English vernacular form of Clara, from the Latin clara, feminine of clarus (“bright, shining, clear”), a post-classical name made famous by the 13th century Saint Clara of Assisi. In Oxfordshire, from Clarora, a clay slope.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Derivation mentionclarala

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "clara"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin clara"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "Clara",
      "Clara"
    ],
    [
      "clara",
      "clara#Latin"
    ],
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      "clarus#Latin"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
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  "lexical": [
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      "pos": "name",
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        "A unisex given name from Latin, more often spelled Claire from the 20th century onward.",
        "A small town and civil parish with a town council in West Suffolk district, Suffolk, England, previously in St Edmundsbury district (OS grid ref TL7745).",
        "A hamlet in Pyrton parish, South Oxfordshire district, Oxfordshire, England (OS grid ref SU6798).",
        "Ellipsis of Clare College, Cambridge."
      ],
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}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for Clare →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger

Machine-source provenance

Source SHA-256: 5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run: 73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID: w-Q2xhcmU