Clés

Clés is the plural form of clé, the French word for key. The term has several related meanings in French, spanning tangible objects, symbolic signs, and information security.

In everyday life, clé refers to a physical key used to open locks, such as those for doors, safes, or vehicles.

In music theory, clé designates a clef—the symbol at the beginning of a staff that assigns pitches. Common examples are clé de sol (treble clef) and clé de fa (bass clef). Note that clef is distinct from the musical key (tonalité), which denotes the scale or pitch center of a piece. The spelling clé is standard in modern French, while clef appears in older texts and some fixed terms.

In cartography and diagrams, clé is the legend that explains symbols, colors, and markings on a map or chart.

In information technology and cryptography, clé means a cryptographic key: public key (clé publique), private key (clé privée), or symmetric key (clé symétrique). The clé controls the encryption and decryption process.

In everyday expression, la clé can be used metaphorically to denote something essential, as in “la clé du problème” or “la clé du succès.”

Etymology: clé comes from Latin clavis. The modern spelling emphasizes the acute accent; the variant clef remains in use in some contexts and older texts. The plural cles follows standard French orthography.