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Glite Dictionary
to carve a totem

to carve a totem

1 8.4
Make a wooden statue that shows cultural or spiritual beliefs to honor tradition
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : tallar un tótem
  • The artist spent weeks learning to carve a totem that reflected the community's values.

Examples

  • Many indigenous cultures still carve a totem to honor spiritual traditions and ancestral heritage.

  • As part of the ceremony, he helped his father carve a totem in the village square.

  • He decided to carve a totem for his village.

  • The artist carves a totem every summer.

  • The artist will carve a totem from a single piece of cedar to honor his ancestors.

  • During the festival, the community gathered to carve a totem that represented their traditions.

  • To celebrate their cultural heritage, they decided to carve a totem depicting local wildlife.

Synonyms

to carve
vsto carve a totem
272 2.1

Cut shapes and patterns into wood, stone and other hard materials

is for creating culturally important wooden figures rather than general cutting actions
to sculpt
vsto carve a totem
57 4.3

To make a statue from stone, wood, or clay by cutting and shaping it

focuses on making symbolic wooden art for cultural or spiritual honoring

Antonyms

to destroy
∞ 1.0

Damage something so badly that it cannot be used or fixed

How Elaborate

to carve a totem
1 8.4
to whittle
13 6.2

Surface Forms

carve a totem infinitive
carved a totem past
carved a totem past participle
carving a totem present participle
carves a totem third person singular

Morphology

carve + a + totem

The meaning 'to create a sculpture representing cultural or spiritual beliefs' is directly and compositionally derived from 'carve' (to cut/shape) + 'totem' (a group emblem); the indefinite article 'a' is semantically neutral. This is a straightforward verb + object construction found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Carve a totem comes from the old practice of using tools to carve faces and animals into a tall wooden totem pole that stood in a village. Those carved poles showed family and spirit stories, so to carve a totem means to make a special sculpture to 'honor' traditions or ancestors.