Yclept

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪˈklÉ›pt/
• Rhymes: -É›pt

Alternative forms

• ycleped

Origin

Representing Old English Ä¡eclypod. y- from Germanic ge-, clept from clepe.

Full definition of yclept

Adjective

1. (archaic, poetic) Called, named.
• 1645, John Milton, , line 13,But come, thou Goddess fair and free/ In heaven yclept Euphrosyne ...
• 1749, Henry Fielding, , Folio Society 1973, page 410,those sounds which ... issue from the mouths, and sometimes from the nostrils, of those fair river nymphs, ycleped of old the Naïades ...
• 1922, James Joyce, , Dover Publications (2002), ISBN 978-0-486-42444-6, page 369,And there came against the place as they stood a young learning knight yclept Dixon.
• 1937, Rex Stout, , chapter 8,Boyden McNair, with his right elbow on his knee and his bent head resting on the hand which covered his eyes, sat near Wolfe's desk in the dunce's chair, yclept that by me on the day that District Attorney Anderson of Westchester sat in it while Wolfe made a dunce of him.
• 1967, Roy Thomas, , Marvel (1967), page 6,In sooth, I care but little for the glory of closing in combat with the one yclept Dragon Man.
• 2001, Glen David Gold, , Hyperion (2002), ISBN 978-0-7868-8632-6, page 174,World traveling sorcerer supreme Charles Carter, yclept Carter the Mysterious, has made a startling discovery that makes the news from Europe seem mild indeed.

Verb

1. Past participle of clepe

Usage notes

While clepe is obsolete, yclept is still occasionally used for humorous or archaic effect; as in the set phrase aptly yclept, which is an idiomatic expression.

A holdover from Middle English, yclept is one of the few English words where 'y' figures as a vowel at the beginning of a word. Others include yttrium and Yngling (keelboat).