earthen

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɝθən/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɜː(ɹ)θən/, /ˈɜː(ɹ)ðən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θən, -ɜː(ɹ)ðən

Etymology 1

From Middle English erthen, urthen, from Old English eorþen, yrþen, ierþen (“made of earth”), from Proto-Germanic *irþīnaz. Cognate with Dutch aarden (“earthen”), German irden (“earthen”). By surface analysis, earth +‎ -en.

Adjective

earthen (comparative more earthen, superlative most earthen)

1. Made of earth or mud.
   • 1826, James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

     A hundred earthen dwellings stood on the margin of the lake […]

   • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4:

     But transects have also been utilised in a large variety of arenas, including surveying the contents of Amerindian earthen mounds[.]

2. Made of clay (especially said of pottery).
   • 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation

     ... the Godfathers and Godmothers follow into the midst of the Church, where there is a small table ready set, and on it an earthen pot ful of warme water, […]

3. (archaic) Earthly.
   • 1903, Maria Lydia Winkler, From Glory to Glory; Or, The Christian's Glorious Ministry, page 228:

     Will they be yours when one by one these earthen / Delights and comforts and all beauties wane? / Will they be found laid up above, illumined?

Derived terms

• earthenware
• earthenwork

 

Translations

made of earth or mud

Arabic: تُرَابِيّ (turābiyy) Armenian: հողեղեն (hy) (hoġeġen) Bulgarian: пръстен (bg) (prǎsten) Dutch: aarden (nl) Esperanto: tera German: irdisch (de) (“irden” in this sense is archaic) Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (airþeins) Greek: Ancient Greek: χοϊκός (khoïkós) Latin: terreus Russian: земляно́й (ru) (zemljanój) Welsh: pridd (cy), o bridd, priddin (literary)

made of clay

Arabic: فَخَرِيّ (faḵariyy), خَزَفِيّ (ḵazafiyy), طِينِيّ (ṭīniyy) Bulgarian: глинен (glinen) Czech: hliněný (cs) Dutch: kleien (nl) Finnish: savi- Galician: de arxila German: irden (de) Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (airþeins) Irish: cré, criaga Latin: fictilis Russian: гли́няный (ru) (glínjanyj)

Etymology 2

From earth +‎ -en.

Verb

earthen (third-person singular simple present earthens, present participle earthening, simple past and past participle earthened)

1. (transitive) to provide or add soil to
   • 2017, N.R. Das, Tillage and Crop Production, 2nd Ed., page 104:

     Their inter-tillage operations, earthening-up of some crops and tillage in orchard/gardens or plantation crops, are stated below, under special cropping system in different situations.

2. (transitive) to make earthly or earthlike
   • 1919, The Improvement Era, volume 23, page 191:

     It deadens,—or earthens—the spirit in both directions.

Anagrams

• traheen, earneth, rhenate, Hatrene, Teheran, hearten