Cleaners

How to spell cleaners

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cleaners

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cleaners mean?

1. nounPeople, substances, or devices whose job is to remove dirt.
2. nounA business that launders or dry-cleans clothes, usually referred to with 'the'.

Cleaners in a sentence

• The office cleaners arrive each evening after the staff leave.

• She dropped her suit at the cleaners on the way to work.

• The cupboard under the sink was stacked with bottles of household cleaners.

• The cleaners on the high street press shirts within a day.

Where does cleaners come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word traces back to the Old English adjective clǣne, which meant 'pure, free from dirt, unblemished' and was a common Germanic word with relatives across the old Germanic languages. From the adjective English formed the verb 'to clean', and to that verb the agent suffix -er was added to name a person or thing that cleans, giving 'cleaner'. Adding the plural -s produces 'cleaners', whether for several people, several substances, or, as a collective shop name, an establishment that cleans clothes. The spelling stays reassuringly regular: the silent-free clean simply takes -er and -s, so the only thing to watch is keeping the e of clean and not slipping toward 'cleener'. The same clǣne root also survives in the now slightly old-fashioned use of 'clean' to mean morally pure.

How the word is built

• clean (root: free from dirt)
• -er (agent: one who does)
• -s (plural)