graven

Graven is an English adjective and past participle meaning engraved or carved. It appears most often in older or literary texts and is now chiefly encountered in religious or ceremonial language. In contemporary writing, speakers and editors typically substitute engraved or carved instead of graven.

In usage, graven commonly occurs in fixed phrases, the most familiar being graven image, a term used to describe something worshipped or revered as an idol because it has been carved. The form also appears in biblical translations and in other devotional or poetic contexts to convey the notion of something inscribed or incised on a surface.

Etymology and development: graven derives from the verb to grave, an archaic or literary form of to engrave. The past participle graven survives in a few established expressions and in prose that aims for a traditional or solemn register. The word’s archaic status means it is rarely used in everyday modern English, except when capturing historical tone, religious rhetoric, or stylistic cadence.

Related terms include engrave, engraving, and carved, which reflect the contemporary vocabulary for incising or inscribing designs on surfaces. In modern usage, graven is primarily literary or ceremonial, rather than technical or everyday.

See also: engraving, carved, engrave. Note: In Dutch, graven means to dig, a different word with no semantic connection to the English verb, though it forms a common example of false friends between the languages.