clown

Origin: From earlier clowne, cloyne; likely of origin, akin to , , all from , from klunt; according to Pokorny, this could be related to a group of Germanic derivatives of , such as , , *kultaz, etc. Alternatively, directly from (compare , , ), themselves from the same ultimate source as above. Unlikely from , although learned awareness of this term may have influenced semantic development. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).