# clean
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English clene, clane, from Old English clǣne (“clean, pure”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“shining, fine, splendid, tender”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *glēy- (“gleaming”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to gleam”). Cognate with Scots clean (“absolute, pure, clear, empty”) and clene, clane (“clean”), North Frisian klien (“small”), West Frisian klien (“small”), klean (“clean”), Dutch klein (“small”), Low German kleen (“small”), German klein (“small”), Swedish klen (“weak, feeble, delicate”), Icelandic klénn (“poor, feeble, petty, snug, puny, cheesy, lame”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /kliːn/, [kʰl̥iːn]
* Audio (UK):(file)
* (General American) enPR: klēn, IPA: /klin/, [kʰl̥ĩn]
* Audio (US):(file)
* (Ireland, dated) enPR: klān, IPA: /kleːn/, [kʰl̥eːn]
** (Local Dublin) IPA: /kliːn/, [kʰl̥iːn]
* Rhymes: -iːn

### Adjective

clean (comparative cleaner, superlative cleanest)
* (physical) Free of dirt or impurities.
** Not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
    Are these dishes clean? Your room is finally clean! For a baby, happiness is a full bottle and a clean diaper.
*** 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC:Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
*** 2020 June 2, Amy Woodyatt, “Scientists say they have found the cleanest air on Earth”, in CNN‎:Scientists believe they have identified the world’s cleanest air, free from particles caused by human activity, located over the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica.
** In an unmarked condition.
    Put a clean sheet of paper into the printer.
** (aerodynamics) Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
** (aviation) Having the undercarriage and flaps in the up position.
    Antonym: dirty
** Empty.
    Synonyms: vacant, void; see also Thesaurus:empty
    The cargo hold is clean.
    Mister, I want to see a clean dinner plate or there'll be no dessert for you.
** (of metal) Having relatively few impurities.
    clean steel
* (behavioral) Free of immorality or criminality.
** Pure, especially morally or religiously.
    Our kids can watch this movie because it is clean.
*** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 51:10:Create in me a clean heart, O God.
*** 1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 63:Ah! let me knot be fool'd, sweet saints. I trust / That I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven.
*** 1914, Parliamentary Debates, volume 168, New Zealand, page 195:I do not think there is any member in this House who will not agree that that is the clean thing to do. Any member sitting on the Government benches will admit in private that that is the proper course for members who break faith.
** Not having used drugs or alcohol.
    I've been clean this time for eight months.
*** 2014 October 27, Taylor Swift, Imogen Heap, “Clean (Taylor's Version)”, in 1989 (Taylor's Version)‎, performed by Taylor Swift, published 2023 October 27:Ten months sober, I must admit Just because you're clean, don't mean you don't miss it Ten months older, I won't give in Now that I'm clean, I'm never gonna risk it
** (of criminal, driving, etc. records) Without restrictions or penalties, or someone having such a record.
    Unlike you, I’ve never caused any accidents — my record is still clean!
** (informal) Not in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs.
    I'm clean, officer. You can go ahead and search me if you want.
** (informal) Devoid of profanity.
* Smooth, exact, and performed well.
    I'll need a sharper knife to make clean cuts.
    a clean leap over a fence
* (obsolete) Total; utter. (still in "clean sweep")
** 1655, James Howell, “To the Right Honourable the Earl of Clare”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume (please specify the page), London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], →OCLC:Moreover, I find there are some Words now in French which are turned to a Countersense […] Cocu is taken for one whose Wife is light, and hath made him a passive Cuckold; whereas clean contrary, Cocu, which is the Cuckow, doth use to lay her Eggs in another Bird's Nest.
* (informal) Cool or neat.
    Wow, dude, those are some clean shoes ya got there!
* (health, of a person) Free of infection or disease.
** 2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation‎, archived from the original on 23 May 2024:"Serious as cognitohazard." Lillihammer danced down the corridor towards them, doing little pirouettes and leaping from toe to toe. "Reuben Wirth no longer exists. Gonna have to get Forsythe to do that brain scan to make sure I'm clean, but otherwise yeah. Poof."
** (health) Devoid of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
    I want to make sure my fiancé is clean before we are married.
* That does not damage the environment.
    clean energy
    clean coal
** 2024 November 8, Luz Pena, “California's gas prices could have major increase with passing of new fuel standards”, in ABC7 News‎:In a press release, CARB expanded on their decision. "The LCFS reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by setting a declining carbon intensity target for transportation fuels used in California; producers that don't meet established benchmarks buy credits from those that do. This system has generated $4 billion in annual private sector investment toward a cleaner transportation sector."
* Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects.
    clean land
    clean timber
* Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 23:22:When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field.
* Well-proportioned; shapely.
    clean limbs
* (climbing, of a route) Ascended without falling.
* (professional wrestling slang) Of a victory or performance: without any submission holds, disqualification, interference, etc.

#### Synonyms

* (not dirty): Thesaurus:clean

#### Antonyms

* dirty
* unclean

#### Derived terms

* a new broom sweeps clean
* bioclean
* certificate of clean criminal record
* cleanaholic
* clean as a bean
* clean as a hound's tooth
* clean as a new penny
* clean as a new pin
* clean as a whistle
* clean bill of health
* clean bomb
* clean bowl
* clean break
* clean bulk
* clean chit
* clean coal
* clean code
* clean coder
* clean copy
* clean eating
* clean electricity
* clean feed
* clean fill
* clean float
* cleanfluencer
* clean freak
* clean girl
* clean-handed
* clean hands
* clean house
* cleanish
* clean language
* clean-limbed
* clean link
* clean-living
* cleanly
* clean meat
* clean money
* cleanness
* clean potato
* clean power
* clean price
* clean room
* cleanroom
* clean-shaved
* cleanshaven
* clean sheet
* clean shell
* cleanskin
* clean skin
* clean slate
* cleantech
* clean teen
* cleanth
* clean-timbered
* clean URL
* come clean
* eye-clean
* hyperclean
* keep one's nose clean
* lick clean
* make a clean breast
* new brooms sweep clean
* nonclean
* overclean
* show a clean pair of heels
* squeaky clean
* superclean, super-clean
* ultraclean
* unclean
* wipe the slate clean

#### Translations

Adyghe: къабзэ (qabzɛ)
Afrikaans: skoon
Albanian: pastër (sq)
American Sign Language: OpenB@BasePalm-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterChesthigh-PalmUp OpenB@Finger-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterChesthigh-PalmUp
Amharic: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: نَظِيف (naẓīf)
Egyptian Arabic: نضيف (naḍīf)
Aragonese: limpio, neto
Armenian: մաքուր (hy) (makʻur)
Aromanian: curat, albu (roa-rup), spilat, chischin, spastru, pãstrit
Assamese: চফা (sopha), চাফা (sapha), চাফ চিকুণ (saph sikun), চিকুণ (sikun), পৰিষ্কাৰ (poriskar)
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܕܸܟ݂ܝܵܐ m (diḳya), ܬܲܡܸܙ (tāmiz)
Asturian: llimpiu
Azerbaijani: təmiz (az), arı (az)
Bashkir: таҙа (taźa)
Basque: garbi
Belarusian: чы́сты (čýsty)
Bengali: পরিষ্কার (bn) (poriśkar), সাফ (bn) (śaph)
Breton: dilastez
Bulgarian: чист (bg) (čist)
Burmese: သန့် (my) (san.)
Catalan: net (ca)
Chechen: цӏена (cʼena)
Cherokee: ᎤᏓᏅᎦᎸᏓ (udanvgalvda)
Chickasaw: chifata, chofata
Chinese:
Cantonese: 乾淨 / 干净 (gon$^1$ zeng$^6$)
Mandarin: 乾淨 / 干净 (zh) (gānjìng)
Chuvash: таса (tas̬a)
Cornish: glan
Czech: čistý (cs) m
Danish: ren (da)
Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: schoon (nl), proper (nl)
Egyptian: (wꜥb)
Esperanto: pura
Estonian: puhas (et)
Faroese: reinur
Finnish: puhdas (fi)
French: propre (fr), net (fr)
Friulian: net
Galician: limpo (gl)
Georgian: სუფთა (supta)
German: sauber (de), rein (de)
Gothic: 𐌷𐌻𐌿𐍄𐍂𐍃 (hlutrs)
Greek: καθαρός (el) (katharós)
Ancient: καθαρός (katharós)
Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
Hausa: tsari
Hawaiian: maʻemaʻe
Hebrew: נָקִי (he) (nakí)
Hindi: साफ़ (sāf), स्वच्छ (hi) (svacch)
Hungarian: tiszta (hu)
Icelandic: hreinn (is)
Ido: neta (io)
Igbo: ocha, ucha
Indonesian: bersih (id)
Ingush: цӏена (cʼena)
Interlingua: munde, nette
Irish: glan (ga)
Italian: pulito (it)
Japanese: 清い (ja) (きよい, kiyoi), 清潔な (ja) (せいけつな, seiketsu na), 綺麗な (ja) (きれいな, kirei na)
Javanese: resik (jv)
Kannada: please add this translation if you can
Kashmiri: صاف (sāf)
Kazakh: таза (taza), саф (saf)
Khmer: ស្អាត (km) (sʼaat)
Korean: 깨끗하다 (ko) (kkaekkeuthada), 맑다 (ko) (makda)
Kumyk: таза (taza)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: پاک (pak), خاوێن (xawên)
Northern Kurdish: paqij (ku)
Kyrgyz: аруу (ky) (aruu), пакиз (pakiz), таза (ky) (taza)
Ladin: nët
Lao: ສະອາດ (sa ʼāt)
Latin: pūrus, mundus, tersus
Latvian: tīrs (lv)
Lithuanian: švarus
Lombard: nett
Luxembourgish: propper
Macedonian: чист (čist)
Maguindanao: matilak
Malay: bersih (ms)
Malayalam: വൃത്തിയായ (vr̥ttiyāya), ശുദ്ധ (ml) (śuddha)
Maltese: nadif (mt)
Maori: mā (mi)
Marathi: स्वच्छ (svaccha), साफ (sāph)
Meänkieli: puhas
Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
Mongolian: цэвэр (mn) (cever)
Nepali: सफा (saphā)
Norman: net (Jersey), naette (Guernsey), propre m or f
Occitan: net (oc)
Odia: please add this translation if you can
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: чистъ (čistŭ)
Old English: clǣne
Ossetian: сыгъдӕг (syǧdæg)
Ottoman Turkish: آری (arı), تمیز (temiz), صفی (safi), پاك (pak)
Pashto: پاک (ps) (pâk)
Persian: پاک (fa) (pâk), تمیز (fa) (tamiz)
Plautdietsch: rein
Polabian: caistĕ m
Polish: czysty (pl) m
Portuguese: limpo (pt), asseado (pt)
Punjabi:
Gurmukhi: ਸਾਫ਼ (pa) (sāf)
Shahmukhi: سُتْھرا m (suthrā), صاف (ṣāf), صاف سُتْھرا m (ṣāf suthrā)
Quechua: llimphu
Romanian: curat (ro)
Russian: чи́стый (ru) (čístyj)
Scottish Gaelic: glan
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: чи̏ст
Roman: čȉst (sh)
Shor: арығ (arığ)
Sicilian: pulitu (scn)
Sindhi: صاف (sāf)
Sinhalese: පිරිසුදු (pirisudu)
Slovak: čistý
Slovene: čist (sl)
Somali: nadiif
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: cysty
Southern Altai: ару (aru)
Spanish: limpio (es), límpido (es)
Swahili: nadhifu, safi (sw)
Swedish: ren (sv)
Sylheti: ꠌꠣꠚꠣ (safá)
Tagalog: malinis
Tajik: пок (pok), тоза (tg) (toza), покиза (pokiza), соф (sof), тамиз (tamiz)
Tamil: சுத்தம் (ta) (cuttam)
Tatar: таза (taza), саф (tt) (saf), чиста (çista)
Thai: สะอาด (th) (sà-àat)
Tibetan: གཙང་མ (gtsang ma)
Turkish: temiz (tr), arı (tr), arın (tr)
Turkmen: tämiz
Tuvan: арыг (arıg)
Ukrainian: чи́стий (čýstyj)
Urdu: صاف (sāf)
Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
Uzbek: toza (uz), pok (uz), pokiza (uz)
Venetan: néto, net
Vietnamese: sạch sẽ (vi), sạch (vi)
Volapük: klinik (vo)
Welsh: glân (cy)
White Hmong: huv
Yakut: ыраас (ıraas)
Yiddish: ריין (reyn) :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

clean (plural cleans)
* Removal of dirt.
    This place needs a clean.
* (weightlifting) The first part of the event clean and jerk in which the weight is brought from the ground to the shoulders.
* (in the plural, metal music) Clear vocals, contrasted with death growls and screams.
** 2014, T/James Reagan, Leeds House, Amazon Digital Services LLC, →ISBN, page 314:When people complained the songs were too hard, Kyle's clean vocals could bail out the band. Adding cleans would set off a chain reaction though - Kyle's crisp, clear presence could be seen as "betraying" the raw assault that Mike inflicts on the fans with his screams and growls.
** 2016, Jay Shields, “Tech Fest 2016”, in Fraser Mutch, editor, Elite Online Mag, number 78, page 155:Vocalist Kaan is impeccable in his performance engaging with the crowd and soulfully executing both searing screams and hauntingly melodic cleans.
** 2023 April 17, Jake Richardson, “10 Best Clean Singers in Metalcore”, in Loudwire‎, archived from the original on 17 August 2024:The band's more recent output has seen a small amount of cleans find their way in, but for the most part, the Pennsylvania boys rely on the kind of devastating vocal delivery that can be heard on monumental career highlights such as "Marianas Trench."

#### Derived terms

* clean-up
* deep clean
* misclean
* power clean
* spring clean

#### Translations
### Verb

clean (third-person singular simple present cleans, present participle cleaning, simple past and past participle cleaned)
* (transitive) To remove dirt from a place or object.
    Can you clean the windows today?
* (transitive) To tidy up, make a place neat.
    Clean your room right now!
* (transitive, climbing) To remove equipment from a climbing route after it was previously lead climbed.
* (intransitive) To make things clean in general.
    She just likes to clean. That’s why I married her.
* (transitive, computing) To remove unnecessary files, etc. from (a directory, etc.).
* (intransitive, curling) To brush the ice lightly in front of a moving rock to remove any debris and ensure a correct line; less vigorous than a sweep.
* (manga fandom slang) To purge a raw of any blemishes caused by the scanning process such as brown tinting and poor color contrast.
* (video games) Synonym of clean up
* To remove guts and/or scales of a butchered animal.

#### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:make clean

#### Derived terms

* cleanability
* cleanable
* clean down
* cleaner
* clean off
* clean one's plate
* clean out
* clean someone’s clock
* clean up
* clean up after
* dry-clean
* get one's clock cleaned
* houseclean
* misclean
* overclean
* preclean
* rage clean
* reclean
* self-cleaning

#### Related terms

* dry-clean
* vacuum-clean

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Adverb

clean (comparative cleaner, superlative cleanest)
* Fully and completely.
    He was stabbed clean through.
    You must be clean mad.
** 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:So, since all my pains in his direction were clean thrown away, there was nothing left for me but to scurry back to Marjorie, — so I scurried, and I found the house empty, no one there, and Marjorie gone.
** 1951 October, William B. Stocks, “A Few Miles from Huddersfield”, in Railway Magazine, page 701:A feat sometimes achieved by outstanding local athletes is to throw a cricket ball clean over the top [of the viaduct].
** 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.

#### Derived terms

* arse has gone clean out of 'er
* arse is clean out of 'er
* clean-shaven

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* Calne, Lance, Lenca, ancle, clane, lance

## Danish
### Etymology

Borrowed from English clean.

### Adjective

clean (neuter clean, plural and definite singular attributive clean)
* drugfree, not having used recreational drugs

## German
### Etymology

Borrowed from English clean. Doublet of klein.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [kliːn]
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

clean (strong nominative masculine singular cleaner, comparative cleaner, superlative am cleansten)
* (colloquial) clean, drugfree
** 1984 March 26, “99 Luftballons und das Chaos der Gefühle”, in Der Spiegel‎, number 13:Nenas Image ist so clean, daß ein paar Zeitschriften nun nach dunklen Punkten suchen und sie erfinden, weil nichts zu finden ist.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “clean” in Duden online
* “clean” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Manx
### Etymology

From Old Irish clíabán.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kleːn/

### Noun

clean m (genitive singular clean, plural cleanyn)
* cradle (oscillating bed for a baby)
    Ta dooinney ny ghaa leaystey clean nagh vel bentyn da hene.There’s a man or two rocking the cradle of another man’s child.
* cot
* cage (of birds)
* pannier

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Manx. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Bulgarian клян (kljan), from Proto-Slavic *klěnь.

### Noun

clean m (plural cleni)
* chub (Squalius cephalus)