Plural of 'clouter'; multiple people or things that strike or hit; those who deliver blows.
From 'clouter' plus '-s' plural suffix (Old English '-as'). Standard pluralization of the agent noun 'clouter.'
English plural '-s' is deceptively simple—it looks like one rule but actually has three pronunciations (/s/, /z/, /ɪz/) depending on the preceding sound, and Old English had even more plural forms, so we've actually simplified our system over 1,000 years, making pluralization easier but less informative about word origins.
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