clue

• n. 手がかり；（物語などの）筋書き
• vt.手がかりを与える；情報を提供する

PIE*glei（粘着性のある、凝集した塊）に由来するcrewの綴り変化から。語源的には粘土、粘着と同じ。古代ギリシア神話の英雄テセウスが迷宮で聖なる雄牛を退治した話に由来する。 迷宮は進むのが難しかったため、クレタ島の王女がテセウスに糸玉を与え、使命を果たした後に来た道を戻れるようにしたことから、手がかりという意味を持つようになった。

clue

clue: [15] Clue is a variant spelling of the now obsolete clew ‘ball of thread’, and its current application to ‘that which helps to solve a problem’, which originated in the early 17th century, is based on the notion of using (like Theseus in the Minotaur’s labyrinth) a ball of thread to show one the way out of an intricate maze one has entered. Clew itself goes back to Old English cliwan or cleowan, which may be related to claw.
=> claw

clue (n.)

1590s, spelling variant of clew "a ball of thread or yarn," in this sense with reference to the one Theseus used as a guide out of the Labyrinth. The purely figurative sense of "that which points the way" is from 1620s. As something which a bewildered person does not have, by 1948.

clue (v.)

"to inform someone of the important facts," usually with in, 1934, from clue (n.). Related: Clued; cluing. Earlier in now-obsolete sense of "follow or track by clues" (1660s). In nautical use, "to haul up (a sail) by means of the clue-lines," from clue (n.) in the "wound ball of yarn" sense.

1. The vital clue to the killer 's identity was his nickname，Peanuts.

殺し屋の身元を突き止める重要な手がかりは、彼のあだ名「ピーナッツ」である。

2.That was the clue which clinched it for us.

はその手がかりが私たちの最終的な問題解決を助けてくれた。

3.I hadn 't a clue to the meaning of "activism "

activismの意味がさっぱり分からない。

4.Diet may hold the clue to the causes of migraine.

食事から偏頭痛の原因がわかるかもしれない。

5.The police followed home the clue and finally caught the culprit.

警察は手がかりに基づいて最後まで追跡し、ついにこの犯人を捕まえた。