Heawan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic verb meaning to strike or chop something down with an axe, sword, or similar blade
2. Old English verb for cutting, hewing, or striking material apart with a sharp tool
3. Used in older English to describe chopping or hacking wood, stone, or flesh with a cutting edge

Etymology: Heawan is an Old English verb meaning "to hew," "to cut," or "to strike with an edge," and it is the ancestor of the modern English "hew." Its past tense forms and past participles in Old English were "heow" and "hewen," and the "-en" ending of the participle survives today in "hewn," which is the form most people now use. That participle has an odd history of its own: over the centuries, "hewed" largely took over as the normal past form, leaving "hewn" mainly in the participle role. The verb belongs to a family of Germanic words for cutting, and its relatives in other languages, such as Old Norse "höggva" and Old High German "houwan," point back to a shared Proto-Germanic root. Comparable forms are attested in several Germanic languages, which is how etymologists reconstruct the older root with confidence.