English vocabulary
Which do you think is more hard-wearing from the choice of these two?
A great compound adjective
hard-wearing
Hard-wearing means strong, durable, resilient.
Which kind of material do you think is more hard-wearing?
Which do you think is more hard-wearing from the choice of these two?
- A solid wooden cup.
- A porcelain or ceramic cup.
It can be tricky. Of course, wood is subject to decay, however if you drop a wooden cup, it is hardly going to break, whereas the ceramic cup will smash in an instant. Wood, it’s natural, it’s hard-wearing. Actually, it’s a good choice.
But, hard-wearing in what way?
That is the question that makes the comparison more interesting. I was thinking about dropping the cup. But dropping something is only one kind of damage. What about washing it every day, scratching the surface, or using it for years?
My original example makes the choice sound more definite than it really is. A ceramic cup will not necessarily break every time it falls. A wooden cup is not automatically the better choice either. The particular cup, its finish and the way you use it all matter.
So, when we call something hard-wearing, we usually mean that it stands up well to repeated use. We are not saying that nothing can damage it. Natural, hard, and hard-wearing are different ideas.
Put it into a sentence
“I need some hard-wearing shoes. I walk a lot, and I don’t want to replace them every few months.”
“We chose a hard-wearing carpet for the stairs because everyone walks up and down them all day.”
Notice the pattern: a hard-wearing material, or this material is hard-wearing. If you compare two things, say more hard-wearing. The hyphen helps the two words work together as one adjective.
What would you choose?
Go back to the two cups. Give your choice, but this time explain what you want the cup to cope with.
“I would choose the wooden cup for ___ because ___. But I would choose the ceramic cup for ___ because ___.”
You can say your answer aloud on your own, or discuss it with someone. If you are not sure which material would last longer, that is fine. Explain what you would need to find out. That makes a more useful answer than simply saying that one is better.
For another example of how the word is used, see hard-wearing in Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries.
