What does cleping mean?
"Cleping" is the present participle of the archaic English verb "clepe," which means to call out to someone, summon them, or bestow a name upon them. Rooted in Old English, the verb flourished through the Middle English period and is encountered constantly in the works of Chaucer and other medieval writers, where characters are forever cleping one another across fields, courts, and battlefields. Over time the verb fell out of everyday speech, displaced by "call" and "name," though its past participle "yclept" survived as a famously quaint relic — the kind of word modern writers deploy for comic or pseudo-medieval effect. Today, "cleping" survives mainly in literary scholarship and playful archaism, making it less a practical vocabulary item than a window into how English speakers once talked about the simple acts of shouting a name and giving one.
verb (present participle)The present participle of the archaic verb "clepe," meaning to call, summon, or name someone or something.
- Calling or summoning a person by voice (archaic).
- Naming or designating someone or something with a particular name (archaic).
"In Chaucer's verse, the poet is forever cleping his characters by name."
"Hearken now, for the herald stands at the gate, cleping each knight forth by name."
"In Middle English romance, the hero is often described as cleping his beloved 'fair lady.'"
If you've ever read a line ending in "—as it was yclept," you've met this word's past participle: "cleping" is how medieval English named things before "calling" took over the job.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cleping
"Cleping" derives from the Middle English verb "clepen" (also "clepien"), meaning to call or name, which itself descends from Old English "cleopian" and "clepan," verbs denoting crying out or calling aloud. The word belongs to the native Germanic stock of English rather than coming from Latin or French, though it ran alongside French-derived "call" and "name" throughout the Middle English period before those rivals prevailed. Its best-known survival is the past participle form "yclept," preserved in fixed literary phrases such as "as it was yclept."
Related word forms
How cleping is actually used
"Cleping" is thoroughly archaic and appears today almost exclusively in historical literature, scholarly discussion of Middle English texts, or deliberate stylistic imitation of medieval prose. Modern readers are far more likely to encounter its famous past participle form "yclept" than any other inflection.
Easily confused with cleping
"Clapping" means striking the hands together in applause, while "cleping" is an archaic term for calling out to or naming someone.