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Suffix · forms adjectives

-hewn

Describes something cut or carved, often with a rough finish: rough-hewn (roughly cut, unpolished) and hand-hewn (carved by hand).

In Spanish: tallado / labrado / cinceladoLiterary

Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated August 2026

What this suffix does

-hewn forms compound adjectives that describe material shaped by cutting, carving, or hewing — and by extension the roughness, authenticity, or handcrafted quality of a person's character. Rough-hewn, hand-hewn, raw-hewn, well-hewn, freshly-hewn — each compound describes the quality of the cutting and by extension the quality of what was produced. "Rough-hewn" is the most important figuratively: applied to a person it describes someone whose character has not been smoothed or refined by education, social polish, or cultural formation. These compounds belong to the literary tradition of describing character through craft metaphors.

How it is formed

Adjective + hewn.

  • rough + hewn
    rough-hewn (roughly cut, unpolished)
  • hand + hewn
    hand-hewn (carved by hand)
  • rock + hewn
    rock-hewn (carved out of rock)

This is not a productive rule you can apply freely: it is a closed set of fixed expressions. Learn them one by one as set phrases.

How it is pronounced

-hewn

Tap the button to hear how the ending sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.

Examples

Base word
With -hewn
In a phrase
  • roughrough-hewnThe cabin was made from rough-hewn logs.
  • handhand-hewnThe table was hand-hewn from a single piece of oak.
  • wellwell-hewnThe stone steps were well-hewn and still solid after centuries.
  • freshlyfreshly-hewnThe smell of freshly-hewn wood filled the workshop.
  • rockrock-hewnThe ancient church was rock-hewn directly into the mountain.

Common mistakes

rough-hewn = rude or unkind in character
rough-hewn = having a character that is unpolished and direct, but not necessarily unkind

"Rough-hewn" describes a person whose social and cultural formation has not given them conventional polish — they are direct, unrefined, perhaps blunt, but not necessarily rude or unkind. The rough hewing is about the shaping process: the edges have not been smoothed off. This can make them more authentic than a polished counterpart, though less comfortable in certain social contexts.

hand-hewn = made slowly or carefully by hand (any process)
hand-hewn specifically = shaped by cutting with an axe or adze

"Hand-hewn" refers specifically to shaping by cutting with a blade — traditionally an axe or adze — rather than just "made by hand" in general. The compound is specifically about the hewing process: the tool marks left by the blade are the signature of hand-hewn work and distinguish it from sawn, planed, or machined timber.

A trick to remember it

"Rough-hewn" is one of the most evocative character descriptors in English because the hewing metaphor is so precise. Hewing produces shape by cutting away material with a blade — it produces edges, ridges, and tool marks. "Rough-hewn" says that the cutting has done the essential work of shaping but has not proceeded to the secondary stages of smoothing, polishing, and refining. Applied to a person, it describes someone whose essential character is clear and strong but whose social surfaces are not smooth — they have the power of the hewn stone without its later polish.

Practise what you learned

Exercise 1 · Form the word

Fill in: "The ___ candidate had none of the smooth confidence of career politicians but all of their conviction." (having an unpolished, direct quality; shaped without refinement but with essential force)

Hint: Rough + hewn = shaped roughly; cut without the secondary smoothing and refining.

Exercise 2 · Pick the right one

"The hand-hewn beams had survived four centuries of English weather better than anything manufactured later." What does "hand-hewn" tell us about the beams?

Exercise 3 · Form the word

Fill in: "The ___ churches of the region had been carved directly from the volcanic hillside over three centuries." (cut from solid rock; shaped by removing material from a stone face)

Hint: Rock + hewn = hewn from rock; cut directly from stone.

Frequently asked questions

What does the suffix -hewn mean in English?

The suffix -hewn describes something cut or carved, often with a rough finish: rough-hewn (roughly cut, unpolished) and hand-hewn (carved by hand). In Spanish it usually maps to tallado / labrado / cincelado.

Can you give an example of a word with -hewn?

"rough" becomes "rough-hewn". It is a typical example of the -hewn suffix.

Other useful suffixes

  • -born

    From Old English "boren" (born): forms adjectives of birth condition, origin or destiny. Firstborn, highborn, stillborn, freeborn, newborn.

  • -clad

    Means "dressed in" or "covered with": ivy-clad (covered in ivy) and ironclad (armor-plated; also "foolproof").

  • -wrought

    Means "worked" or "crafted", literal or emotional: hand-wrought (crafted by hand) and overwrought (overly excited, on edge).

Learn every English suffix

-tion, -ness, -ful, -ly, -able... every ending you need to understand thousands of words at once.

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