hewn

Everyday

1. Cut or chopped with an axe, pick or other sharp tool, especially wood or stone. tree →
2. (adjective) Shaped roughly by cutting, as in «rough-hewn». tree →

In the lessons

A history and story word: «hewn from rock», «a rough-hewn table», «hand-hewn beams». It describes old buildings, castles, caves and furniture. Badger's underground home in The Wind in the Willows has rooms and passages, and old stone homes may be hewn from the rock.

Examples

• The steps were hewn out of solid rock. tree →
• The cottage had a rough-hewn wooden table. tree →
• Stone for the cathedral was hewn from a nearby quarry. tree →
• Miners hewed coal deep underground. tree →
• The ancient tomb was hewn into the cliff. tree →
• The beams were hand-hewn by carpenters long ago. tree →
• The churches there are almost entirely built of hewn blocks of stone, each like a piece of rock. tree →

Note

Irregular past participle: hew – hewed – hewn (or hewed). Pronounced HYOON. Old-fashioned; today «cut» or «carved». Homophone trap: «hewn» sounds like «Hune»; «hew» sounds like «hue» (a colour) and «Hugh» (a name).

In Jewish tradition

Cut with a tool. Altar stones were to be whole, not cut with iron tools; "cisterns hewn out" were wells dug into rock. It also describes cut building stone, as in Solomon's palace, and Wisdom's house with "seven hewn pillars". In Lamentations, "hewn stone" is a wall blocking the way.

Interpretation. Tradition says an altar must be made of uncut stones because iron shortens life while the altar lengthens it, so no iron could touch the stones. In Sefer Yetzirah the letters are "hewn out" like carved stone. Wisdom's seven pillars are read in many ways, often as the Torah's teachings.

Examples

• And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast profaned it. (Torah EXO.20.25, JPS 1917) tree →
• and houses full of all good things, which thou didst not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which thou the didst not hew, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou didst not plant, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied — (Torah DEU.6.11, JPS 1917) tree →
• nB3 mynp nna ni2isn hpa graved by the voice, hewn out :mDipD nti-ens in the air, and fixed in the moutli in five places. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
• Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars; (Writings PRO.9.1, JPS 1917) tree →
• And above were costly stones, after the measure of hewn stones, and cedar-wood. (Prophets 1KI.7.11, JPS 1917) tree →
• He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone, He hath made my paths crooked. (Writings LAM.3.9, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Irregular past participle: hew – hewed – hewn (or hewed). Pronounced HYOON. Old-fashioned; today «cut» or «carved». Homophone trap: «hewn» sounds like «Hune»; «hew» sounds like «hue» (a colour) and «Hugh» (a name).

Early Modern English

Meaning

Cut or shaped with an axe, tool or saw. tree →

Then and now

Today we usually say "cut" or "carved", and "hewed" is the more common form. "Hewn" is an old past participle, used here as a form of "hew".

Examples

• And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast profaned it. (Torah EXO.20.25, JPS 1917) tree →
• Fail in this, and you shall be hewn in a thousand pieces.’ (The Pink Fairy Book) tree →
• and houses full of all good things, which thou didst not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which thou the didst not hew, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou didst not plant, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied — (Torah DEU.6.11, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Today: cut.