Cloven means split into two parts, as some animals' hooves are. A cloven hoof, cloven in two, cloven-footed.
Cattle, sheep, pigs and deer all have them, and the two toes spread under weight, which is what lets a heavy animal cross soft ground. The devil was pictured with cloven hooves, which is why the word carries a faint chill. It is the old past participle of cleave.
1adjectiveclovenSplit into two parts.
“The devil is often drawn with horns, a tail and cloven hooves.”
cloven is a quality of shape.
Proto-Indo-European
*glewbʰ- — to cut, to slice
Proto-Germanic
*kleubaną
Proto-West Germanic
*kleuban
Middle English
cleven
English
cleave
English, today
cloven
Built from
cleave comes from Middle English cleven, from the Old English - strong verb clēofan (“to split, to separate”), from Proto-West Germanic kleuban, from Proto-Germanic kleubaną, from Proto-Indo-European glewbʰ- (“to cut, to slice”). a doublet of clive. Cognate with Dutch klieven, dialectal German klieben, Swedish klyva, Norwegian Nynorsk kløyva; also Ancient Greek γλύφω (“carve”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA