hewn

[ hyoon or, often, yoon ]

/ hyun or, often, yun /

Save This Word!

adjective

felled and roughly shaped by hewing: hewn logs.

given a rough surface: hewn stone.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

Origin of hewn

1300–50; Middle English hewen, past participle of hew

un·hewn, adjectivewell-hewn, adjective

And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down.
Keep Christmas Commercialized!|P. J. O’Rourke|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Librizzi has always struck me as an admirable man, rough-hewn as a New York cabbie.
Red, Black, and Silver’ Just May Be Jackson Pollock’s Last Painting|Anthony Haden-Guest|January 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I…saw…18th-century hand-hewn and hand-planed joists and beams with extremely wide floorboards right above them….
Is This the Tavern Where Washington Drank After Beating the British?|William Bryk|November 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The man is uncivil and impolitic, rough-hewn enough for leather fringe and dung-crusted boots.
The Quintessential American|James Carroll|December 3, 2009|DAILY BEAST

Back then such a thing was novel; today you could fill a manly, hand-hewn shelf with dad books.
Freestyle Fatherhood|Taylor Antrim|October 10, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The same may be said of the sarcophagi in the principal temple, which is hewn out of a block of fine white marble.
A Woman's Journey Round the World|Ida Pfeiffer
On the opposite bank of the river, a small hill rises, upon which rests the figure of a large and rather plump ox hewn in stone.
A Woman's Journey Round the World|Ida Pfeiffer
The principal temple, Kylas, is the most wonderful of all those which are hewn out of the rock.
A Woman's Journey Round the World|Ida Pfeiffer
He then advanced over the log slowly and cautiously, for its upper surface, hewn level and smooth, was but four inches wide.
Gold-Seeking on the Dalton Trail|Arthur R. Thompson
The two houses, which they had noticed as they passed in April, were constructed of hewn boards gray with age.
Gold-Seeking on the Dalton Trail|Arthur R. Thompson