hew

hew · verb, noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kewh₂-“to strike, hew, forge”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hawwaną
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hauwan
4. Old English · inherited fromhēawan
5. Middle English · inherited fromhewen
6. English todayhew

From Middle English hewen, from Old English hēawan, from Proto-West Germanic *hauwan, from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂- (“to strike, hew, forge”). Cognate to West Frisian houwe (“to hew”), Cimbrian hauan (“to dig”), Dutch houwen (“to hew”), German hauen (“to hew”), Luxembourgish haen (“to chop”), Danish hugge (“to hew”), Faroese høgga (“to hew”), Icelandic höggva (“to hew”), Norwegian Bokmål hogge, hugge (“to hew”), Norwegian Nynorsk hogga (“to hew”), Swedish hugga (“to hew”). Sense 3 derives from the phrase hew to the line (literally “cut evenly with an axe or saw”).

hew · noun²

See hue.

Hew · proper noun³

Variant of Hugh.

Words from the same roots