Cloud Originally Meant a Rock
A cloud is a visible mass of water droplets. The Old English word meant a mass of rock, and it shifted because both look like lumps in the distance.
A cloud is a visible mass of water droplets or ice crystals in the air. Old English *clud* meant a mass of rock or a hill, and it shifted to the sky in the Middle Ages on a simple resemblance: a heavy cumulus on the horizon looks like a rocky outcrop. The older sense survives in *clod*, a lump of earth. The word English displaced was *welkin*, which now sounds archaic.
- A mass in the sky. *A dark cloud.*
- A mass of anything airborne. *A cloud of dust.*
- Remote computing. *Stored in the cloud.*
- To obscure. *Anger clouded his judgement.*
- Cloud nine — great happiness. *On cloud nine.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | cloud | One cloud. |
| Plural | clouds | Low clouds. |
| Verb | cloud | It clouded over. |
| Adjective | cloudy | A cloudy day. |
| Related | clod | A clod of earth. |
- Clouds gathered over the hills.Weather.
- The files are backed up to the cloud.Computing.
- Every cloud has a silver lining.Proverb.
The main cloud types
- Cumulus — heaped, the cotton-wool kind
- Stratus — a flat grey layer
- Cirrus — high, thin and wispy
- Nimbus — rain-bearing, as in cumulonimbus
- Named by Luke Howard in 1802, using Latin so the terms would travel
Old English *clud*, a mass of rock or a hill. The meteorological sense developed in Middle English, displacing the older *welkin*.
Are cloud and clod related?
Yes. Both descend from a word for a lump or mass. Clod kept the earthly sense, cloud moved to the sky.
Who named the cloud types?
Luke Howard, a British chemist, in 1802. He used Latin terms so the names would work internationally.