cleave

Meanings

To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
To split.
Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.
To cling, adhere or stick fast to something; used with to or unto.

Flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass.

From Middle English cleven, from the Old English strong verb clēofan, from Proto-Germanic *kleubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ-. clive. Cognate with Dutch klieven, dialectal German klieben, Swedish klyva, Norwegian Nynorsk kløyva; also Ancient Greek γλύφω ("carve").
From Middle English cleven, a conflation of two verbs: Old English clifian (from Proto-Germanic *klibāną) and Old English clīfan (from Proto-Germanic *klībaną), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gleybʰ- ("to stick").

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