heben

H4E1B3E1N1

noun

Ebony.

OriginMiddle English ebenif ← Latin ebenius ← Ancient Greek ἔβενος →
Scrabble 10
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Meanings

nounheben (uncountable)
  1. obsoleteuncountableEbony.

    And thou moſt dreaded impe of higheſt Ioue, / Faire Venus ſonne, that with thy cruell dart / At that good knight ſo cunningly didſt rove, / That glorious fire it kindled in his heart, / Lay now thy deadly Heben bow apart, / And with thy mother milde come to my ayde: […]

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 2

Origin

  1. Egyptianhbnj
  2. Ancient Greekἔβενος
  3. Latinhebenus“ebon tree”
  4. Latinebenius“of ebony”
  5. Middle Englishebenif
  6. Englishheben

From Middle English ebenif, hebenyf (influenced by Late Latin hebeninus), from Ecclesiastical Latin ebenius (“of ebony”), from Latin hebenus (“ebon tree”), from Ancient Greek ἔβενος (ébenos), from Egyptian hbnj, U13:n-Z4:M3

More words from Middle English, Latin, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

behen
Cite this entry
APA

heben. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heben

MLA

“heben.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heben. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heben,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heben.

Source: heben on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.