cleaver

American  

[klee-ver] / ˈkli vər /

noun

1. a heavy, broad-bladed knife or long-bladed hatchet, especially one used by butchers for cutting meat into joints or pieces.

2. a person or thing that cleaves.

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cleaver British  

/ ˈkliːvə /

noun

1. a heavy knife or long-bladed hatchet, esp one used by butchers

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cleaver Scientific  

/ klē′vər /

1. A bifacial stone tool flaked to produce a straight, sharp, relatively wide edge at one end. Cleavers are early core tools associated primarily with the Acheulian tool culture.

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Etymology

Origin of cleaver

First recorded in 1325–75, cleaver is from the Middle English word clevere. See cleave ², -er ¹

Explanation

A cleaver is a large knife, used mainly by butchers. The blade of a cleaver is big and square. To cut a steak, you need a good, sharp knife. To cut larger parts of meat, you need something even more powerful: a cleaver (or chopper). Cleavers have fat, square blades and are used for cutting large hunks of meat. It can help you remember the meaning of this word if you know that to cleave is to separate. If you're not a butcher, you probably have no use for a cleaver (unless you're a villain in a horror movie).

Example Sentences

"You can see it as a domestic narrative and then you can see it as a jumbo meat cleaver".

From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026

I came to love the satisfying thunk of the cleaver hitting the cutting board.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 23, 2025

They play with the locks on your door while you are napping and cleaver banana plants in the middle of the night.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 9, 2023

A Santoku knife is a Japanese chef’s knife with small indentations along the straight blade, in the style of a Chinese slicing cleaver.

From Washington Times • Jun. 9, 2023

Survival was such a habit with him that he put away his cleaver, moved down the block, this time to a building under siege by its owner’s ex-wife.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen