Clique may come from the French word for "click" — the sound of a door latching shut to keep outsiders out — and it became a famous unsolved problem in computer science.
A small, exclusive group of people who share common interests or who socialize together, often excluding others. Carries connotations of snobbery or insularity.
From French clique (a group, gang, clique), possibly from Old French cliquer (to click, make a sharp noise), of imitative origin, perhaps suggesting the sound of a group closing ranks or the click of a latch closing Key roots: clique (French: "exclusive group (possibly from cliquer, to click)").
Clique may literally mean "a click" — from Old French cliquer (to make a sharp noise), perhaps evoking the click of a door latching shut to keep outsiders out, or the snapping together of like-minded people. In graph theory (mathematics), a 'clique' is a subset of vertices where every pair is connected — a formalized version of the social concept where everyone in the group knows everyone else. The Clique Problem — determining whether a graph contains a clique of a given size — is one