oven
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈʌ.vn̩/, /ˈʌv.ən/[1]
Etymology
It is inherited from Old English ofen (“furnace, oven”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *ukhnaz,[3][2] source also of Dutch oven, German Ofen (“stove”), Old Norse ofn and Gothic aúhns,[2][3][4] from PIE *aukʷ-, a cooking pot,[3][2] source also of Latin aulla, pot, Greek ipnós, oven, and Sanskrit उखा (ukhā́, “cooking pot”);[2][3][5] perhaps originally something hollowed out.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
A furnace: before 900 in the OED, about 725 in Barnhart, in a translation of Daniel;[6][2] a chamber for baking bread, about 1000.[6]
Semantic evolution
A chamber for heating or drying substances in chemistry and industry is from 1753.[6] The ovenbird is named for its oven-shaped nest.[3] The colloquial to have something in the oven, to be pregnant, is from 1962.[3][6] Ovenware is by 1916, in Pyrex advertisements.[3]
Timeline
- c. 725 – a furnace.[2]
- c. 1000 – a baking oven.[6]
- 1753 – a drying chamber.[6]
- 1916 – ovenware.[3]
- 1962 – in the oven, pregnant.[6]
Modern meaning
Noun
- An enclosed compartment, as in a stove, for baking or roasting food.
- A similar chamber for drying, firing or hardening things, as a kiln.
Verb
- To cook in an oven.
Word family
- ovenlike
- ovenable
- ovenproof
- ovenware
- ovenwood
- ovenbird
- convection oven
- Dutch oven
Related words
- stove
- kiln
- furnace
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press