carve

Pronunciation: /kɑɹv/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb form by carving
  2. verb engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface
  3. verb cut to pieces

Etymology

From Middle English kerven, from Old English ceorfan, from Proto-West Germanic *kerban, from Proto-Germanic *kerbaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with West Frisian kerve, Dutch kerven, Low German karven, German kerben (“to notch”); also Old Prussian gīrbin (“number”), Old Church Slavonic жрѣбии (žrěbii, “lot, tallymark”), Ancient Greek γράφειν (gráphein, “to scratch, etch”).

In classic literature

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
shape, cut
Narrower (hyponyms)
fret, sculpt, hew

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