In commemoration of Nintendo’s 135ᵗʰ anniversary, September 20 to 30 is NIWA Cross-Wiki Week. Click here for event details and the possibility to win a $20/€20 Nintendo eShop gift card. Please remember to follow the manual of style and code of conduct at all times. Check the Bulbagarden home page for up-to-date Pokémon news and discuss it on the forums or in the Bulbagarden Discord server.
Clefable is tall, pink Pokémon with a vaguely star-shaped body. It has long, pointed ears with dark brown tips and ovular black eyes with a wrinkle on either side. A curled lock of fur hangs over its face from the top of its head, and it has dark pink, three-pointed wings on its back. Its hands have three fingers each, and its feet have two clawed toes and dark pink soles. It has a long, tightly curled tail.
Clefable is a timid creature that flees when it senses people approaching, and is one of the world's rarest Pokémon. Its sensitive ears allow it to hear thing half a mile away. Because of its acute hearing, it prefers to live in quiet mountainous areas. Using a bouncy gait, it is able to walk on water and sometimes appears to be flying using its small wings.
In the anime
Major appearances
Clefable in the anime
Clefable first appeared in Clefairy and the Moon Stone. After the large group of Clefairy blasted Team Rocket away with Metronome, particles of the giant Moon Stone landed on some of the Clefairy, causing them to evolve.
Clefable made an appearance for another Mt. Moon Festival in A Real Cleffa-Hanger.
Minor appearances
Clefable was also in a stage show about talking Pokémon for Stage Fight!.
In Pokémon Adventures, Green had a Clefairy that later evolved into Clefable when Red used his Moon Stone on it. Although it was used only once for distraction against Sabrina prior to evolving, its increased power allowed it to stall Thu-Fi-Zer for a short period of time with its Metronome. It has since been used as a main member of her team in Green's battle against Lorelei, where it minimized itself to retrieve her miniature ice sculptures, deliberately blowing off the arm part to let the Elite Four's guard down. It has seen no major appearances since, despite always being listed as a team member.
In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga, Red's Clefairy can evolve into Clefable, although it has since devolved back to the Clefairy stage, as Pokémon can reverse the evolution process. Clefairy first evolves into Clefable in Clefairy finally evolves?!.
Whitney has a Clefable which is Clefairy's childhood friend.
Clefable moves by skipping lightly as if it were flying using its wings. Its bouncy step lets it even walk on water. It is known to take strolls on lakes on quiet, moonlit nights.
A Clefable uses its wings to skip lightly as if it were flying. Its bouncy step lets it even walk on water. On quiet, moonlit nights, it strolls on lakes.
Clefable weighs the same as Ethan. It shares this trait with Latias and Gurdurr.
Origin
It seems to be based on fairies and pixies, being a magical, humanoid, playful, winged creature.
Name origin
Clefable is a combination of clef (French for [musical] key) and fable (a type of fictional story). It may also be derived from able, considering its strange ability to 'walk' on water or its amazing hearing.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.