hewn

American  

[hyoon, yoon] / hyun, yun /

adjective

1. felled and roughly shaped by hewing.

   hewn logs.

2. given a rough surface.

   hewn stone.

---

Other Word Forms

• unhewn adjective
• well-hewn adjective

Etymology

Origin of hewn

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

Explanation

Something that's hewn is carved out of wood or another hard material. A hewn rock statue is cut and shaped out of a slab of stone. Your most prized possession could be a hand-hewn chair made by your grandfather, carved with a chisel out of piece of oak. A child who lives in the country might spend hours with a pocket knife making sharply hewn sticks, one after another. Hewn is the past participle of the verb hew, which comes from the Old English root heawan, "to chop, hack, or gash."

Example Sentences

But when he got it right, his lyrics had an aphoristic directness that made them seem more hewn than written.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025

Its throwing arm, currently at 12 o’clock, weighs 360 pounds and is not hewn or sanded; knots are visible in the wood.

From Slate • Jul. 7, 2025

“What the Acropolis was to Ancient Greece during her Golden Age, the new Civic Center now being hewn from the shabby slopes of Bunker Hill will be to Los Angeles,” The Times wrote in 1957.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 13, 2024

Imagine running your fingers over the jagged grey marble from which two gladiatrices were hewn thousands of years ago.

From Salon • Nov. 26, 2024

Its proportions are too chunky, too broad of beam, too crudely hewn.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Related Words

• chiseled
• engraved
• sculpted
• sculptured