# carve

> English word · Verb · IPA /kɑɹv/ · frequency rank #16,861

## Definitions
1. To cut.
2. To cut meat in order to serve it.
3. 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.
4. To perform a series of turns without pivoting, so that the tip and tail of the snowboard take the same path.
5. To take or make, as by cutting; to provide.
6. To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.

## 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”).

## Easily confused with
- **case** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-case)
- **core** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-core)
- **cure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-cure)
- **cave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-cave)
- **cove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-cove)
- **Cary** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-cary)
- **cate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-cate)
- **Cree** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-cree)
- **cava** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-cava)
- **cause** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-cause)
- **curve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-curve)
- **curse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-curse)
- **caves** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-caves)
- **Clare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-clare)
- **Clive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-clive)
- **caste** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-caste)
- **crave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-crave)
- **curvy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-curvy)
- **caved** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-caved)
- **clove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carve-vs-clove)

## Common misspellings (6)
`acrve`, `carev`, `carrve`, `carvve`, `cavre`, `ccarve`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/carve