Carved, engraved, or cut into a surface; deeply impressed or etched (often used poetically or religiously).
Past participle of grave (verb, meaning to carve or engrave), from Old English grafan. The verb comes from Proto-Germanic *grabanan.
'Graven image' in the Bible refers to carved idols, and the word perfectly captures how carving was seen as permanent and powerful—something that couldn't be easily erased or forgotten, which is why it became metaphorical for something deeply impressed.
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