the.com/cleft
a gap where two halves forgot to shake hands before the curtain rose
means A split, crack, or deep indentation that divides something into parts — like a cleft chin or a cleft in the rock.
from From Old English 'clyft,' tied to the verb 'cleofan' meaning to split or cleave — the same root behind 'cleave.' It belongs to a Germanic family of splitting words, a cousin of Old High German and Old Norse terms for cracking apart. Curiously, 'cleave' carries opposite meanings — to split and to cling — but the 'cleft' sense is firmly the splitting one, the past participle that hardened into a noun for the gap left behind.
- chin science
- Cleft chins are a genetic quirk of fused jawbone
- in palate
- Forms when facial plates fail to meet before birth
- musical use
- Treble clef shares the root: a splitting mark
- rock climbing
- A cleft in stone is a climber's ladder
- word origin
- From Old English cleofan, meaning to split apart
cleft palate — congenital condition affecting 1 in 700 births worldwide, visible split in the roof of the mouth
chin cleft — dimple or indentation on the chin, common dominant genetic trait seen in many celebrities like john travolta
cleft lip — birth defect occurring in 1 in 1,000 births, vertical split in the upper lip often paired with cleft palate