What does clivers mean?
Clivers is the common British name for Galium aparine, a scrambling annual plant of the madder family that climbs through hedges and crops using rows of tiny downward-pointing hooks along its square stems and narrow leaves. These bristles catch readily on clothing, wool, and animal fur, which is how the plant earned its many folk names, including cleavers, goosegrass, and catchweed. The word is used chiefly in Britain and typically appears only in the plural form, making it a plurale tantum like "scissors". Clivers has long been valued in herbal tradition, where the fresh plant was used in spring tonics and even pressed through cloth to strain milk, a task its gripping hairs made surprisingly effective. For readers, the word evokes countryside walks, tangled hedgerows, and the small everyday surprise of a plant that refuses to let go.
nounA herbaceous climbing plant of the bedstraw family (Galium aparine), covered in tiny hooked bristles that make it cling to clothing and fur; also known as cleavers or goosegrass.
- The plant Galium aparine, a clinging hedgerow weed with hooked bristles on its stems and leaves
"The dog came back from the walk covered in clivers, the sticky stems tangled in its fur."
"She pulled handfuls of clivers off the garden fence where the stems had wound their way through the wire."
"Children used to play tricks with clivers, tossing the sticky strands onto one another's jumpers as they walked home."
A plurale tantum — the word occurs only in the plural form, like "trousers".
"Her socks were full of clivers after walking through the field."
Touch a clivers stem and you've been caught — the plant grips clothes, hair, and fur with microscopic hooks, which is exactly how farmers once used it to strain milk.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of clivers
The word clivers derives from the Old English verb clifian, meaning "to stick" or "to adhere", the same root that gives us the verb cleave in its sense of clinging. The name is simply a reference to the plant's famously adhesive stems and seeds, which hook onto anything they brush against. It is closely related to the alternative name cleavers, formed directly from the same verb, and both names have been applied to Galium aparine since the Middle Ages.
How clivers is actually used
Chiefly British and often regional or dialectal; "cleavers" and "goosegrass" are the more widely recognized names for the same plant elsewhere. The word is a plurale tantum, used only in the plural form.
Easily confused with clivers
Clover is a low-growing meadow plant in the pea family, whereas clivers is a straggling, sticky-stemmed climber that attaches itself to whatever it touches.