# carve
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English kerven, from Old English ceorfan, from Proto-West Germanic *kerban, from Proto-Germanic *kerbaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with West Frisian kerve, Dutch kerven, Low German karven, German kerben (“to notch”); also Old Prussian gīrbin (“number”), Old Church Slavonic жрѣбии (žrěbii, “lot, tallymark”), Ancient Greek γράφειν (gráphein, “to scratch, etch”).

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /kɑɹv/
** Audio (US):(file)
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /kɑːv/
** Audio (UK):(file)
** Homophone: calve (Received Pronunciation)
* Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)v

### Verb

carve (third-person singular simple present carves, present participle carving, simple past carved, past participle carved or (archaic) carven)
* (archaic) To cut.
** 1834 September (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Sir Galahad”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza I, page 174:My good blade carves the casques of men, / My tough lance thrusteth sure, / My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure.
* To cut meat in order to serve it.
    You carve the roast and I’ll serve the vegetables.
* To shape to sculptural effect; to produce (a work) by cutting, or to cut (a material) into a finished work, especially with cuts that are curved rather than only straight slices.
    to carve a name into a tree
** 1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maiden of Mars‎, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:The facades of the buildings fronting upon the avenue within the wall were richly carven […] .
** 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter I, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise.
* (snowboarding) To perform a series of turns without pivoting, so that the tip and tail of the snowboard take the same path.
* (figuratively) To take or make, as by cutting; to provide.
** 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:[…] who could easily have carved themselves their own food.
** 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC‎:The Reds carved the first opening of the second period as Glen Johnson's pull-back found David Ngog but the Frenchman hooked wide from six yards.
* To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.
** 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet.

#### Derived terms

* becarve
* carvability
* carvable
* carveability
* carveable
* carved in stone
* carve out
* carver
* carvery
* carve up
* carving knife
* cut and carve
* file carving
* forcarve
* overcarve
* recarve
* undercarve

#### Related terms

* kerf

#### Translations

Albanian: gdhend (sq)
Bulgarian: режа (bg) (reža), изрязвам (bg) (izrjazvam)
Catalan: tallar (ca)
Egyptian: (šꜥd), (šꜥ)
Finnish: leikata (fi)
Galician: tallar (gl)
German: schneiden (de)
Hawaiian: kalakalai, kālai
Hungarian: ró (hu), vés (hu), váj (hu)
Ingrian: vestää
Italian: tagliare (it)
Khiamniungan Naga: jā
Latin: caelō
Manchu: ᡶᠣᠯᠣᠮᠪᡳ (folombi)
Middle English: kerven
Mongolian: зүсэх (mn) (züsex)
Old English: ċeorfan, snīþan
Old Saxon: snīthan, kervan
Persian: تراشیدن (fa) (tarâšidan)
Portuguese: cortar (pt), esculpir (pt)
Quechua: kuchuy
Russian: ре́зать (ru) impf (rézatʹ), выреза́ть (ru) impf (vyrezátʹ)
Spanish: cortar (es)
Ukrainian: рі́зати impf (rízaty), ви́різати pf (výrizaty) :
Albanian: latoj (sq), gdhend (sq)
Arabic: نَحَتَ (ar) (naḥata)
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܓܵܠܹܦ (galep)
Bulgarian: дялам (bg) (djalam), гравирам (bg) (graviram)
Burmese: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: tallar (ca)
Cornish: kervya
Czech: vyřezávat
Danish: snitte
Dutch: snijden (nl)
Egyptian: (ḫtj)
Esperanto: ĉizi
Finnish: veistää (fi)
Galician: tallar (gl), esculpir (gl), labrar (gl)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: einkerben (de), kerben (de), schnitzen (de) (wood)
Greek:
Ancient: γλύφω (glúphō)
Hawaiian: kuʻikepa
Hebrew: גַלֵף (he) (galéf)
Hungarian: farag (hu), vés (hu)
Ingrian: vestää
Italian: intagliare (it), scolpire (it)
Khiamniungan Naga: jā
Khmer: please add this translation if you can
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Ladin: ziplé
Latin: sculpō
Lao: please add this translation if you can
Malay: please add this translation if you can
Manchu: ᡶᠣᠯᠣᠮᠪᡳ (folombi)
Maori: whao, whaowhao, whakairo
Norwegian: snitte, spikke
Old Norse: telgja, sníða
Ottoman Turkish: طوغرامق (doğramak)
Persian: کنده کاری (fa) (kande-kâri)
Polish: ryć (pl) impf
Portuguese: esculpir (pt), talhar (pt)
Russian: выреза́ть (ru) impf (vyrezátʹ), высека́ть (ru) impf (vysekátʹ)
Sanskrit: ताष्टि (tāṣṭi)
Spanish: tallar (es), esculpir (es)
Swedish: snida (sv), rista (sv), tälja (sv)
Tamil: please add this translation if you can
Telugu: please add this translation if you can
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: oymak (tr)
Ukrainian: ви́різати pf (výrizaty), вирі́зувати impf (vyrízuvaty), висіка́ти impf (vysikáty), ви́сітки pf (výsitky) :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

carve (plural carves)
* (obsolete) A carucate.
** 1862, Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland:... half a carve of arable land in Ballyncore, one carve of arable land in Pales, a quarter of arable land in Clonnemeagh, half a carve of arable land in Ballyfaden, half a carve of arable land in Ballymadran, ...
** 1868, John Harland (editor), Wapentake of West Derby, in Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester, (translating a Latin text c. 1320-46), page 31
    Whereof John de Ditton holds a moiety of the village for half a carve of land.
* The act of carving
    Give that turkey a careful carve.

### Anagrams

* Caver, caver, crave, varec

## Middle English
### Verb

carve
* Alternative form of kerven