veneer

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] German Furnier, from furnieren (“to inlay, cover with a veneer”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French fournir (“to furnish, accomplish”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French fornir, from Old French fornir, furnir (“to furnish”), from Old Frankish frumjan (“to provide”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vəˈniə(ɹ)/
• IPA^(key): [vɨˈniə̆ɹ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Noun

veneer (countable and uncountable, plural veneers)

1. A thin decorative covering of fine material (usually wood) applied to coarser wood or other material.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away, […].

2. An attractive appearance that covers or disguises true nature or feelings.
   • 2014 December 5, "Joy From the World," The New York Times Magazine (retrieved 6 December 2014):

     “Yalda,” Dabashi says, “has managed to survive the centuries because it has been gently recodified with a Muslim veneer.”

Derived terms

• brick veneer

Translations

thin covering of fine wood

• Czech: dýha (cs) f
• Danish: finer c
• Dutch: fineer (nl) n
• Finnish: viilu (fi)
• French: placage (fr) m
• Georgian: ფანერა (panera), ფირფიცარი (pirpicari), ჭიქურა (č̣ikura), სარკალა (sarḳala)
• German: Furnier (de) n
• Greek: επικόλλημα (el) n (epikóllima)
• Hebrew: פורניר (he) m
• Irish: veinír f
• Italian: impiallacciatura (it), rivestimento decorativo m
• Manx: aachrackan m, aachoodagh m
• Maori: papa tīhore
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: finér m
• Persian: روکش (fa) روکش چوبی
• Portuguese: folheado m
• Russian: шпон (ru) m (špon), односло́йная фане́ра f (odnoslójnaja fanéra)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фурнир m, оплатица f

  Roman: furnir (sh) m, oplatica (sh) f

• Slovak: dyha (sk) f
• Spanish: chapa (es) f, chapa de madera f, chapeado (es) m, contrachapado m
• Swedish: faner (sv) n
• Turkish: ağaç kaplama (tr), ahşap kaplama, kaplama tahtası

covering or disguising appearance

• Catalan: vernís (ca)
• Czech: fasáda (cs) f, vnější lesk m, vnější nátěr m
• Finnish: julkisivu (fi)
• French: vernis (fr) m
• Georgian: დაფარვა (daparva), გარეგნობის მიცემა (garegnobis micema)
• German: Fassade (de) f
• Greek: επικόλλημα (el) n (epikóllima), επίχρισμα (el) n (epíchrisma), (metaphorical) επίφαση (el) f (epífasi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: facciata (it) f, mascheratura f, copertura (it) f, dissimulazione (it) f
• Norwegian: ferniss (no) n
• Russian: вне́шний лоск m (vnéšnij losk), (somewhat) налёт (ru) m (naljót), (informal, colloquial) показу́ха (ru) f (pokazúxa), ви́димость (ru) f (vídimostʹ)
• Spanish: barniz (es) m
• Swedish: fasad (sv)

Verb

veneer (third-person singular simple present veneers, present participle veneering, simple past and past participle veneered)

1. (transitive, woodworking) To apply veneer to.

   to veneer a piece of furniture with mahogany

2. (transitive, figurative) To disguise with apparent goodness.
   • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Prologue”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 6:

     [O]ne / Discuss'd his tutor, rough to common men / But honeying at the whisper of a lord; / And one the Master, as a rogue in grain / Veneer'd with sanctimonious theory.

Translations

to apply veneer

• Czech: dýhovat impf, odýhovat pf
• Danish: finere
• Finnish: viiluttaa (fi)
• French: vernir (fr)
• German: furnieren (de)
• Greek: επικολλώ (el) (epikolló), επιχρίω (el) (epichrío)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: impiallacciare, rivestire (it), ricoprire (it), mascherare (it)
• Manx: cur aachrackan er
• Portuguese: folhear (pt)
• Russian: облицовывать (ru) (oblicovyvatʹ), придава́ть вне́шний лоск (pridavátʹ vnéšnij losk), маскировать (ru) (maskirovatʹ)
• Spanish: chapar (es), chapear (es), enchapar (es)
• Swedish: fanera (sv)

Anagrams

• Vereen, enerve, evener