Formed

Formed is the past participle of the verb form, meaning having been shaped, created, or organized. It is used as both a verb and an adjective, and appears in a range of technical and everyday contexts.

Etymology and meaning

The word derives from form, itself from Latin forma via Old French forme. As a participle, formed denotes that a process of shaping or construction has been completed or that an object possesses a particular structure.

Usage as a verb and as an adjective

As a verb, formed describes actions such as making, shaping, or organizing something: the artisan formed metal into a blade. As an adjective, formed describes a state or result, often in combination with nouns indicating structure or composition, for example, a formed clay pot or a formed arrangement of parts. In compound adjectives, it frequently appears in phrases like well-formed, ill-formed, or self-formed.

Technical uses

In linguistics and computer science, well-formed and ill-formed terms denote grammatical or syntactic correctness. In logic, a well-formed formula (WFF) refers to a syntactically correct expression. In biology and medicine, the term appears in references to the formed elements of blood (red and white blood cells and platelets) and to other cellular or tissue structures that have developed to a defined shape. In geology and materials science, formed can describe rocks, minerals, or composites that have been produced or crystallized in a specific manner.

Variations and related terms

Formed is often contrasted with unformed or deforming in contexts of quality, structure, or development. It functions across tenses in ordinary language, while the past participle commonly appears in passive constructions or as a predicate adjective.