Hebeny

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A very hard, dark wood taken from certain tropical trees ; a deep, glossy black shade of the kind that wood displays
2. The heavy, almost black timber cut from tropical trees used for fine carving and piano keys ; the intense jet-black colour associated with that wood
3. An archaic spelling of the dense black tropical timber prized for furniture ; a rich, dark black hue likened to that wood's appearance

Etymology: Hebeny is an adjective meaning very dark black, and it is a close relative of "ebony," the name of the dense, dark wood. The word comes from the same source, the Greek "ebenos," which gave rise to the Latin "ebenus" and then to Old French "ebene," from which English borrowed "ebony." "Hebeny" is a variant form, with an initial "h" that was added in English spelling, a pattern seen in other words that entered from Greek and Latin through French. Because the wood was prized for being so dark and heavy, the adjective came to describe anything with that same deep, glossy blackness. The form "hebeny" is an older English spelling, and its appearance in literature shows that poets used it as a more colourful way of saying "ebony," giving the wood's name a looser, more descriptive sense.