κλείς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂us (“nail, pin, hook - instruments, of old use for locking doors”). Cognate with Latin clāvus (“nail, pin”) and Old Church Slavonic ключь (ključĭ, “key”).

Alternative forms

• κλαΐς (Doric)
• κλᾶϊς (Aeolic)
• κληΐς (Ionic)
• κλῄς (Attic)

Pronunciation

• (5th BC Attic): IPA: /kle͜és/

• (1st BC Egyptian): IPA: /kliːs/

• (4th AD Koine): IPA: /klis/

• (10th AD Byzantine): IPA: /klis/

• (15th AD Constantinopolitan): IPA: /klis/

Noun

κλείς (genitive κλειδός) f, third declension; (kleís)

1. Something used to lock/unlock: key, bolt, bar
2. A means to something: key
3. The hook of a clasp
4. collarbone
5. The rowing bench of a ship (always in plural)
6. A narrow strait or pass

Inflection

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ κλείς	τὼ κλεῖδε	αἱ κλεῖδες
Genitive	τῆς κλειδός	τοῖν κλειδοῖν	τῶν κλειδῶν
Dative	τῇ κλειδί	τοῖν κλειδοῖν	ταῖς κλεισί(ν)
Accusative	τὴν κλεῖδᾰ	τὼ κλεῖδε	τὰς κλεῖδᾰς
Vocative	κλεί	κλεῖδε	κλεῖδες

Usage notes

There also exist the contracted forms κλεῖν (accusative singular) & κλεῖς (nominative & accusative plural).

Descendants

• κλειδί

References

• LSJ
• BDAG
• Strong’s concordance number: G2807