The Latin root word clud and its variants clus and clos all mean “shut.”
Humans love to “shut” things and people both in and out. When you include someone in a group, you “shut” him in. When you exclude him, you “shut” him out. When you conclude that an idea is correct, you have thoroughly “shut” any debate on the issue of its truthfulness. And a secluded area? It is “shut” apart from civilization.
The spelling variant clus also means “shut.” A recluse has “shut” himself back from civilization, preferring solitude. He wishes to live in seclusion, “shut” apart from society. His exclusion, or “shutting” out from society, would be on a purely voluntary basis. It is hard to know how a hermit arrives at such a conclusion, or act of thoroughly “shutting” out all possibilities except one, in this example of wanting complete solitude.
A spelling variant of clus is clos, which also means “shut.” When you close a door, you of course “shut” it. When you enclose something, you “shut” it in. When there is closure at the end of a novel, the plot is all tidy and “shut,” that is, all loose ends are accounted for. And if someone you know is closed-minded? His mind is “shut” to new ideas.
Time for me to “shut” up about clud, clus, and clos, otherwise Santa “Claus” may bring me nothing but "clutt"er and “clothes!”
- include: ‘shut’ in
- exclude: ‘shut’ out
- conclude: thoroughly ‘shut’
- seclude: ‘shut’ apart
- recluse: person ‘shut’ back from civilization
- seclusion: a ‘shutting’ apart
- exclusion: a ‘shutting’ out
- conclusion: a thorough ‘shutting’
- close: ‘shut’
- enclose: ‘shut’ in
- closure: a ‘shutting’ of something, such as a book or school year
- closed-minded: having a mind that is ‘shut’ to new ideas