裂開後留下的那道縫（名詞）
這一族就是核心畫面本身：把注意力放在「縫」上，而不是放在劈開的動作上。
noun · C1
A narrow opening in something hard, especially rock, ice or the ground, left where the surface has split apart.
裂縫；裂口
核心畫面
One picture holds this whole word: something solid has been split along a line, and the line is still there. Think of a rock face with a narrow gap running down it. The two sides used to be one thing. Now there is a space between them, wide at the top and closing as it goes in. Everything else cleft does is this picture put somewhere new — on a chin, on a lip, on a leaf, on a hoof, on a stick, even on a sentence.
cleft 的核心畫面可以想成：一樣硬的東西沿著一條線被劈開了，而那條線還留在那裡。想像一面岩壁，中間有一道細細的縫…更多收起
cleft 的核心畫面可以想成：一樣硬的東西沿著一條線被劈開了，而那條線還留在那裡。想像一面岩壁，中間有一道細細的縫從上往下延伸。兩邊本來是同一塊，現在中間空出了一道口子，上面寬、往裡越來越窄。這個字的其他用法，就像是把同一張圖換個地方貼上去——貼到下巴上、上唇上、葉子上、蹄子上、木棍的末端上，甚至貼到一個句子上。From the word’s history
Wiktionary traces cleft to Middle English clift, Old English ġeclyft, and analyses it as cleave (to split) plus the noun-forming -t. So the word is built out of the verb for splitting: first the action, then the thing the action leaves behind.
依據 Wiktionary，cleft 來自中古英文 clift、古英文 ġeclyft，結構上是動詞 cleave（劈開）加上構成名詞的 -t。所以這個字本來就是從「劈開」長出來的：先有動作，才有動作留下來的那道縫。這也說明了為什麼 cleft 既是名詞「裂縫」，又同時是 cleave 的過去形式。
Wiktionary (kaikki extract) entry for cleft, etymology 1; source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:574069691:16039
Two branches
處在被劈開的狀態（形容詞與過去形式）
把鏡頭從「縫」移到「東西」：不是看那道空隙，而是看整樣東西現在變成兩半的樣子，或正在被劈開的那一刻。
adjective · C1
Split into two parts, or partly split, so that there is a line or an opening running down the middle of something.
裂開的；分成兩半的