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# cloven

adjective (cloven); verb form (an old past participle of cleave: cleave, cleaved/cleft/clove, cleaved/cleft/cloven)

«cloven» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Split into two parts, especially a hoof divided into two toes («cloven hoof»), as on cows, sheep, goats, pigs and deer. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/#m1)
2. (old, literary) Split or cut apart by a strong blow. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/#m2)

### In the lessons

In science lessons on animals, cows, deer and goats have cloven hooves while horses have a single solid hoof. In old stories, folk tales and paintings the Devil is often shown with cloven hooves, so «showing the cloven hoof» once meant showing a wicked side. In the Bible, the food laws in Leviticus mention animals that «part the hoof» (have cloven hooves) and chew the cud. It tells the reader something is split in two.

### Examples

- Deer have cloven hooves. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/#x1)
- The pig's cloven hoof left a two-part print in the mud. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/#x2)
- Horses do not have cloven hooves; their hooves are solid. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/#x3)
- In the story, the stranger's boots hid cloven hooves. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/#x4)
- Sheep and goats are cloven-hoofed animals. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/#x5)
- The Bible's food laws speak of animals with a divided hoof that chew the cud. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/#x6)
- The sea washes away the blood that has flowed from the cloven skulls. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/#x7)

### Note

Mainly used in «cloven hoof» / «cloven-hoofed». The verb «cleave» is old and odd: its past forms are cleaved, cleft or clove, and cloven or cleft. In modern English people say «split» instead.

## In Jewish tradition

"Cloven-footed" means having a hoof split in two. It is one of the two signs, with chewing the cud, of an animal that is clean to eat.

**Interpretation.** The rabbis taught that an animal must both have split hooves and chew the cud to be kosher. They noted that the pig shows its split hoof but does not chew the cud, so it is a symbol of seeming right but being unfit.

### Examples

- Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is wholly cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that may ye eat. (Torah LEV.11.3, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cloven/#x1)
- And the swine, because he parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you. (Torah LEV.11.7, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cloven/#x2)
- And every beast that parteth the hoof, and hath the hoof wholly cloven in two, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that ye may eat. (Torah DEU.14.6, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cloven/#x3)

### Note

Mainly used in «cloven hoof» / «cloven-hoofed». The verb «cleave» is old and odd: its past forms are cleaved, cleft or clove, and cloven or cleft. In modern English people say «split» instead.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «cloven» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cloven/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cloven» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/cloven.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «cloven» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cloven/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cloven» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/cloven.html) on Mova free.