forge

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun furnace consisting of a special hearth where metal is heated before shaping
  2. noun a workplace where metal is worked by heating and hammering
  3. verb create by hammering

Etymology

From Middle English forge, from Old French forge, early Old French faverge, from Latin fabrica (“workshop”), from faber (“workman in hard materials, smith”) (genitive fabri). Cognate with Franco-Provençal favèrge. Doublet of fabric and fabrica. Partially displaced English smithy. * Computing sense perhaps derived from the early SourceForge service, launched in 1999.

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