The word ‘cleave’ is unique among the commonly-used words in the English language because it has two different, and entirely opposite, meanings. The first meaning of ‘cleave’ is ‘to stick to, to adhere, to cling’. On the other hand, the second meaning of ‘cleave’ is ‘to split, to divide’.
Perhaps the evolution of the word from its German, Norse, and Greek roots got stumped by a fork in the road. Not wanting to choose either, the word decided to take both paths. That will probably explain why we ended up with an English word with opposite meanings.
Trivial? Well, I’ll have to agree. But isn’t it true that words like these makes learning English all the more interesting?
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