Drag to pan · scroll to zoom
Drag to rotate
Tracing “”…
Where does the word "clue" come from? It comes from Old English clew, and was adopted directly into English (1600s).
Read the full story
Where does the word "clue" come from? It comes from Old English clew, and was adopted directly into English (1600s).
Clue’s story begins in Old English: clew meant “a ball of thread.” A ball of thread, recalling the thread Theseus used to escape the Minotaur's labyrinth. It reached English by 1600s as clue. Shifted from the literal thread to anything that guides one to a solution. Today, clue means a piece of evidence or information that helps solve a mystery or problem.
- Stage 1 · Old English · medieval clew "a ball of thread", a ball of thread, recalling the thread Theseus used to escape the Minotaur's labyrinth.
- Stage 2 · English · 1600s clue "a piece of evidence that helps solve a problem", shifted from the literal thread to anything that guides one to a solution.