- clavicle (n.)
- 1610s, from Middle French clavicule "collarbone," also "small key," from Medieval Latin clavicula (used c.980 in a translation of Avicenna), from Latin clavicula, literally "small key, bolt," diminutive of clavis "key" (see slot (n.2)); a loan-translation of Greek kleis "key, collarbone." So called supposedly from its function as the "fastener" of the shoulder. Related: Clavicular.