What does clote mean?
"Clote" is an archaic English noun with two related historical senses: a soft, coagulated mass — essentially what we would now call a clot — and, in older herbal and botanical usage, a name for the greater burdock, a plant long prized in folk medicine for its broad leaves and purported healing properties. The two senses are linked by practice as much as by form: poultices made of crushed burdock leaves were themselves called clotes, so the word could denote both the medicinal mass and the plant supplying it. The term descends from Old English and is related to "clot" and "clout," all tracing back to a Germanic root concerned with lumps and masses of material. Today, clote survives almost exclusively in historical writing, glossaries of dialect words, and discussions of pre-modern medicine. Readers encountering it in Shakespearean-era texts or medieval herbals will find it glossed as either a clot or the burdock, depending on context, and its interest lies chiefly in what it reveals about the vocabulary of early medicine rather than in any living usage.
nounAn archaic word for a clot or soft lump, and in older herbal usage, a name for the greater burdock plant.
- A clot or soft coagulated mass (archaic).
- The greater burdock plant, Arctium lappa (archaic/herbal usage).
"The medieval physician bound a clote of herbs to the wound to draw out the infection."
"The apothecary applied a warm clote of comfrey to the swollen joint."
"In old herbals, clote was listed among the plants valued for drawing out humors."
Regular pluralization; attested only in archaic contexts.
"The herbalist prepared several clotes of yarrow and burdock for the infirmary."
Before modern bandages, a 'clote' of mashed burdock leaves was pressed onto wounds — one word covering both the medicine and the plant it came from.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of clote
"Clote" comes from Old English, where it denoted a soft mass or lump, making it a sibling of the modern words "clot" and "clout" — all descendants of related Germanic roots describing rounded masses or lumps of matter. In Middle English the word was extended to name the greater burdock, whose leaves were used in poultices, giving rise to compound forms such as "clote-bur." The sense referring to the coagulated mass gradually gave way to "clot," which displaced it in ordinary speech by the early modern period.
How clote is actually used
"Clote" is obsolete or at best dialectal in modern English; it appears mainly in historical texts, herbals, and dictionaries of archaic vocabulary. It should be flagged as archaic when used today.
Easily confused with clote
A clout is a blow or a piece of cloth (or, informally, influence), while a clote is an obsolete term for a clot or for the burdock plant.
A clove is a dried flower bud used as a spice or a segment of a garlic bulb, unrelated in meaning to the archaic clote.