kloof

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch kloof (“ravine”) (South Africa). Doublet of clove.

Pronunciation

• (US, UK) IPA^(key): /kluf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

kloof (plural kloofs)

1. (South Africa) A deep glen or ravine.
   • 1901, William Thomas Black, The Fish River bush, South Africa, and its wild animals:

     Forming the south boundary of the valley is a range of disrupted bushy hills, with intervening deep and rugged kloofs and ravines, which constituted the retreat of Jan Pockbaas and his rebel banditti.

   • 1948, Alan Paton, chapter 1, in Cry, the Beloved Country, New York: Scribner, published 1987:

     The grass is rich and matted, you cannot see the soil. It holds the rain and the mist, and they seep into the ground, feeding the streams in every kloof.

   • 1978, André Brink, Rumours of Rain, Vintage, published 2000, page 172:

     Occasionally the narrow dirt road rose above the mist on the slopes of the high round hills, from where one looked down on the silver clouds in the valleys and kloofs below, a magical, incredible sight.

Derived terms

• kloofing

Further reading

• “kloof”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Flook, flook

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kluəf/

Etymology 1

From Dutch kloof, from Middle Dutch clove.

Noun

kloof (plural klowe)

1. gap, split
2. ravine, gorge, glen

Etymology 2

From Dutch kloven.

Verb

kloof (present kloof, present participle klowende, past participle gekloof)

1. to split, to cleave

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kloːf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oːf

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch clove, from Proto-West Germanic *klubō, from Proto-Germanic *klubô, related to *kleubaną (“to split, cleave”). Cognate with German Klobe, Kloben, Cimbrian khlóop.

Noun

kloof f (plural kloven, diminutive kloofje n)

1. gap, gorge, ravine

Derived terms

• kloofdal
• taalkloof

Related terms

• klieven

Descendants

• Afrikaans: kloof
• → English: kloof
• → Papiamentu: kloof (dated)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

kloof

1. inflection of kloven:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

Verb

kloof

1. singular past indicative of klieven

Verb

kloof

1. singular past indicative of kluiven