hempen

/ˈhɛmpən/

adjectiveC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — hemp sits at #11,703Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Hempen means made from the tough fibre of a plant. A hempen rope, hempen cloth, the hempen sail.

Hemp made almost every rope and sail in the age of sail, and navies planted it as a strategic crop. The -en ending is the old way of forming such adjectives, as in wooden and golden.

Definitions of hempen

1adjectivehempenMade from the tough fibre of a plant.C2
“The prisoner's hands were tied with a rough hempen cord.”

hempen is a material.

Where it comes from

Old English haenepen is hemp plus the old adjective ending -en, as in wooden.

Proto-West Germanic
*hanapīn — hempen, made of hemp
Old English
*hænepen — made of hemp, hempen
Middle English
hempen
English, today
hempen

From Middle English hempen, hempyn, from Old English hænepen (“made of hemp, hempen”), from Proto-West Germanic hanapīn (“hempen, made of hemp”), equivalent to hemp + en. Cognate with West Frisian himpen (“hempen”), Dutch hennepen (“hempen”), German Low German hempen (“hempen”), German hanfen, hänfen (“hempen”). More at hemp.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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