[Open] Suffix “-en” Meaning “Made Of”

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or Yet Another Thing I Learned from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

These are adjectives formed (in Old or Middle English) by adding the suffix -en to a noun representing (in all cases I’ve seen) a material, meaning actually or figuratively consisting, made, or having qualities of, or derived or proceeding from, or pertaining or similar to, or clad in that material, or a product, a component, or components thereof. (This suffix is analogous to the Latin -ine.) The Century Dictionary notes that when the noun itself is used “as an adjective it is not used figuratively”, where these adjectives are “used both literally and figuratively . . . . The form in -en is generally preferable rhythmically; hence its retention and extension in poetic use.”

Interesting examples of this figurative use include woolen meaning “clad in the rough, homespun serges of former times, as opposed to the silk, velvet, and fine linen of the wealthier classes; hence, coarse; boorish; rustic; vulgar”, contrasted with silken meaning “dressed in silk; hence, luxurious.”

Almost all of the most common of these refer to woods, fibers, and metals. I doubt there are two dozen in Modern English.