Other forms: veneers
A veneer is a very thin sheet of good wood glued over cheaper wood underneath. It is how a chipboard cabinet ends up looking like walnut, and it is a perfectly respectable technique — some of the finest antique furniture is veneered.
The figurative sense is the commoner one in writing and it is never kind: a veneer of politeness, a veneer of respectability, a thin veneer of civilisation. In every case the point is that the surface is not what is underneath. Dentists use the word literally for a thin shell bonded to the front of a tooth. The verb is to veneer, and veneered is what you call furniture that is not solid wood.
1nounveneerA thin layer of fine wood glued over a cheaper surface.
“The desk is oak veneer over plywood.”
2nounfacadeA pleasant appearance that hides what something is really like.
“There was a thin veneer of politeness over the whole meeting.”
3nounshellA thin shell bonded to the front of a tooth.
“She had veneers fitted before the wedding.”
veneer is a thin outer layer.
German Furnier came from French fournir, to furnish or supply — the same word behind furniture. A veneer was originally just something supplied to finish a piece off, with none of the suspicion the English word has since acquired.
Proto-Germanic
*frumjaną — to further, promote
Frankish
frumjan — to provide
Old French
fornir
Middle French
fornir
French
fournir — to furnish, accomplish
German
Furnier
English, today
veneer
Built from
From German Furnier, from furnieren (“to inlay, cover with a veneer”), from French fournir (“to furnish, accomplish”), from Middle French fornir, from Old French fornir, furnir (“to furnish”), from Old Frankish frumjan (“to provide”), from Proto-Germanic frumjaną (“to further, promote”). Cognate with Old High German frumjan, frummen (“to accomplish, execute, provide”), Old English fremian (“to promote, perform”). More at furnish.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA