Archaic English, meaning called or named . It is full fair to ben yclept madame - Chaucer To be called Madam is acceptable . Perhaps in Chaucer s day, it was. These days, Madam has many uses, and has fallen into disfavour. The word yclept (or ycleped ) has fallen so far from favour as to be used only in jocular or poetic senses. I call this a shame.
It is pronounced with a long e , as in
he. The etymology is seemingly straightforward enough, taken from the Middle English verb
clepe (meaning to call), and originating with the Old English (possibly Indo-European) root of