cliff

See also: Cliff

English

A cliff is a vertical or near vertical rock face

Pronunciation

• enPR: klĭf, IPA^(key): /klɪf/, [kl̥ʰɪf]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪf

Etymology 1

From Middle English clyf, from Old English clif, from Proto-Germanic *klibą.

Noun

cliff (plural cliffs)

1. A vertical (or nearly vertical) rock face.

   Synonym: precipice

   Hyponym: escarpment

   Coordinate term: bluff

2. (figurative) A point beyond which something abruptly fails or decreases in value, performance, etc.

Derived terms

• alto cliff
• American cliff swallow
• bass cliff
• benefit cliff
• benefits cliff
• bird cliff
• cliffbound, cliff-bound
• cliffed
• cliff-face
• cliff face
• cliff fall
• cliff-green
• cliff green
• cliffhanger
• cliff-hanger
• cliff hanger
• cliffing
• cliff lift
• cliff notes
• cliff railway
• cliff rose
• Cliffsend, Cliffs End
• cliffside
• cliff swallow
• cliffy
• fall off a cliff
• fall off the cliff
• fiscal cliff
• follow someone off a cliff
• glass cliff
• Kuiper cliff
• Oak Cliff
• treble cliff

 

Translations

a (near) vertical rock face

• Albanian: shkëmb (sq) m
• Arabic: جُرْف m (jurf)
• Aragonese: penya f
• Armenian: ժայռ (hy) (žayṙ)
• Azerbaijani: sıldırım
• Basque: labar
• Belarusian: скала́ f (skalá), уцёс m (ucjós) / ўцёс m (ŭcjos), кліф m (klif)
• Breton: tornaod (br) m
• Bulgarian: стръмна скала f (strǎmna skala)
• Burmese: နတ်သမီးကမ်းပါး (my) (natsa.mi:kam:pa:)
• Catalan: penya-segat (ca) m
• Cebuano: pangpang
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴰⵖⵓⵍⵉⴷ m (aɣulid)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 懸崖／悬崖 (jyun⁴ ngaai⁴)

  Mandarin: 峭壁 (zh) (qiàobì), 懸崖／悬崖 (zh) (xuányá, xuányái)

• Czech: útes (cs) m
• Danish: klint (da) c
• Dutch: klip (nl) f, klif (nl) f
• Eastern Bontoc: chopras, oto, teng-el
• Esperanto: klifo (eo)
• Estonian: kalju (et)
• Faroese: klettur m, berg (fo) n, hamar m
• Finnish: kalliojyrkänne, jyrkänne (fi)
• French: falaise (fr) f
• Galician: cantil (gl) m, acantilado (gl) m, barronqueira f, esfragadoiro m, penagallo m, pariñeira f
• Georgian: ფრიალო კლდე (prialo ḳlde), ციცაბო კლდე (cicabo ḳlde), კლიფი (ḳlipi), ალპინისტის მთა (alṗinisṭis mta), ხრამი (xrami), ქარაფი (karapi), კლდე (ka) (ḳlde)
• German: Klippe (de) f, Felsen (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌳𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍉 f (driusō)
• Greek: βουνοπλαγιά (el) f (vounoplagiá), κλιτύς (el) f (klitýs), πρανές (el) n (pranés), γκρεμός (el) m (gkremós)

  Ancient: κρημνός m (krēmnós)

• Gujarati: કરાડ m (karāḍ), ભેખડ f (bhekhaḍ)
• Hawaiian: pali
• Hebrew: צוק (he) m (tsuq)
• Hungarian: szirt (hu)
• Icelandic: klettur (is) m, berg (is) n, bjarg (is) n, hamar (is) m
• Ido: klifo (io)
• Ilocano: dirraas
• Indonesian: tebing (id)
• Interlingua: precipitio
• Irish: aill f
• Italian: rupe (it) f, scogliera (it) f, costone (it) m, dirupo (it) m, crinale (it) m
• Japanese: 崖 (ja) (がけ, gake)
• Kannada: ಕಮರಿ (kn) (kamari)
• Kazakh: құз (qūz), жартас (jartas), жар (jar)
• Khmer: ច្រាំងភ្នំ (craŋ pnum)
• Korean: 절벽(絶壁) (ko) (jeolbyeok), 벼랑 (ko) (byeorang)
• Lao: ຜາ (lo) (phā)
• Latgalian: radze
• Latin: rūpēs f
• Latvian: klints m
• Lithuanian: klifas m
• Lubuagan Kalinga: angit, chigchig
• Macedonian: спила f (spila)
• Malagasy: kôrnisy (mg)
• Malay: cenuram
• Malayalam: പാറ (ml) (pāṟa)
• Manx: eaynin f
• Middle English: clyf, clough, hough
• Mongolian: хад цохио (xad coxio)
• Nepali: भीर (bhīra)
• Norman: falaise f, (Saint Ouën) falaîthe f
• North Frisian: (Föhr-Amrum) klap f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: klippe (no) m

  Nynorsk: klippe f, hamar m

• Occitan: bauç (oc) m
• Old English: clif n
• Old Norse: klettr m, berg n, hamarr m
• Ottoman Turkish: قیا (kaya)
• Persian: پرتگاه (fa) (partgâh)
• Polish: klif (pl) m
• Portuguese: penhasco (pt) m, falésia (pt) f
• Romanian: stâncă (ro) f, faleză (ro) f, pantă (ro) f
• Russian: скала́ (ru) f (skalá), утёс (ru) m (utjós), клиф (ru) m (klif)
• Samoan: tofo
• Sanskrit: भृगुः (sa) m (bhṛguḥ)
• Scots: craig, cleuch
• Scottish Gaelic: creag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: литица f, хрид m

  Roman: litica (sh) f, hrid (sh) m

• Slovak: útes m
• Slovene: klif m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: skała f, skalina f

• Southern Kalinga: ipngas
• Spanish: acantilado (es) m, precipicio (es), risco (es) m
• Swedish: klippa (sv) c
• Tagalog: dahilig, duminding, dalisdis, talampas
• Tajik: партгоҳ (partgoh)
• Tamil: செங்குத்துப் பாறை (ceṅkuttup pāṟai)
• Tarifit: addar m
• Thai: ผา (th) (pǎa)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: uçurum (tr), yar (tr), falez (tr)
• Turkmen: uçut
• Tuwali Ifugao: dopla
• Ukrainian: ске́ля f (skélja), кліф m (klif)
• Uyghur: يار (yar)
• Vietnamese: vách đá (vi)
• Walloon: falijhe (wa) f
• Welsh: garth m or f
• West Frisian: klippe
• White Hmong: tsua
• Yámana: arakur
• Zazaki: hir (diq)
• Zhuang: bya

Etymology 2

Noun

cliff (plural cliffs)

1. (music) Obsolete form of clef.
   • 1723, John Harris, Lexicon Technicum:

     Suppose a Person hath learnt to sing in the Treble Cliff only, and would sing Notes prick'd in the Tenor Cliff on the middle tine with F# […]

Further reading

• cliff on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kliːf/

Noun

cliff m (plural cliffiau)

1. (music) Obsolete form of cleff.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cliff	gliff	nghliff	chliff
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “cleff”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies