NYT Dictionary

CLOUD

/ˈklæʊ̯d/
NounVerbCLOUDcloud · 1 syllableGrade 5

Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026

Meaning

A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.

Etymology

Origin: Old English

From Middle English cloud, from Old English clūd (“mass of stone, rock, boulder, hill”), from Proto-West Germanic *klūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, *klutaz (“lump, mass, conglomeration”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, clench”). Cognate with Scots clood, clud (“cloud”), Dutch kluit (“lump, mass, clod”), German Low German Kluut, Kluute (“lump, mass, ball”), German Kloß (“lump, ball, dumpling”), Danish klode (“sphere, orb, planet”), Swedish klot (“sphere, orb, ball, globe”), Icelandic klót (“knob on a sword's hilt”). Related to English clod, clot, clump, club. Largely replaced Middle English welkne, from Old English wolcn (whence English welkin), from Proto-Germanic *wulkną, the original Germanic word for cloud (compare Dutch wolk, German Wolke, North Frisian and West Frisian wolk).

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

foggloombecloudmistbedarkenbedimbegloomengloombesmirchdenigrate

NYT Puzzle Appearances

Accepted in 4 recorded puzzles:

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