earthen

English

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /ˈəɹθən/
(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɜː(ɹ)θən/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θən

Etymology 1

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

Adjective

earthen (comparative more earthen, superlative most earthen)

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:10.1080/01434632.2019.1596115, page 4:
  But transects have also been utilised in a large variety of arenas, including surveying the contents of Amerindian earthen mounds[.]
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, […]
(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?

Translations

made of earth or mud

Arabic: تُرَابِيّ‎ (turābiyy)
Armenian: հողեղեն (hy) (hołełen)
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)

(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.
(transitive) to make earthly or earthlike
- 1919, The Improvement Era, volume 23, page 191:
  It deadens,—or earthens—the spirit in both directions.

Anagrams

Teheran, earneth, hearten, rhenate