Many veneers are glued over the edges to look like solid wood, but they will always be faced on the end and show no end grain. Artificial veneers can be overlaid on plywood or particleboard. A plywood core is lighter, less expensive and more forgiving if damaged, but it can swell if it gets wet. If damaged, particleboard will often fracture because the material is so hard it cannot absorb a shock. Laminated is made of pieces that have the same length and width.
Butcher block is made of pieces with varying length but the same width.
Veneer is a thin layer of wood applied in sheets over underlying layers of wood, plywood or particleboard. Plywood is made of thin layers of solid wood glued over each other with grains running at 90-degree angles to produce a strong core. Gluing chips and particles of wood together and pressing them into sheets, upon which a veneer can be glued, makes particleboard. Hardwoods come from deciduous trees. Softwoods come from conifers.