earthen
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English erthen, urthen, from Old English eorþen, *yrþen, *ierþen (“made of earth”), from Proto-Germanic *irþīnaz, equivalent to earth + -en (adjectival suffix). Cognate with Dutch aarden (“earthen”), German irden (“earthen”).
AdjectiveEdit
earthen (comparative more earthen, superlative most earthen)
- Made of earth or mud.
- 1826, James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans
- A hundred earthen dwellings stood on the margin of the lake […]
- 2019, Li Huang; James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, DOI: , page 4:
- But transects have also been utilised in a large variety of arenas, including surveying the contents of Amerindian earthen mounds[.]
- 1826, James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans
- Made of clay (especially said of pottery).
- 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation
- ... the Godfathers and Godmothers follow into the midst of the Church, where there is a small table ready set, and on it an earthen pot ful of warme water, […]
- 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation
- (archaic) Earthly.
- 1903, Maria Lydia Winkler, From Glory to Glory; Or, The Christian's Glorious Ministry (page 228)
- Will they be yours when one by one these earthen / Delights and comforts and all beauties wane? / Will they be found laid up above, illumined?
- 1903, Maria Lydia Winkler, From Glory to Glory; Or, The Christian's Glorious Ministry (page 228)
TranslationsEdit
made of earth or mud
|
made of clay
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
earthen (third-person singular simple present earthens, present participle earthening, simple past and past participle earthened)
- (transitive) to provide or add soil to
- 2017, N.R. Das, Tillage and Crop Production, 2nd Ed., page 104:
- Their inter-tillage operations, earthening-up of some crops and tillage in orchard/gardens or plantation crops, are stated below, under special cropping system in different situations.
- (transitive) to make earthly or earthlike
- 1919, The Improvement Era, volume 23, page 191:
- It deadens,—or earthens—the spirit in both directions.