Word.ws English Dictionary

wood

UK/wʊd/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/wɵd/

wood noun: the substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree. Used as a material for construction, to manufacture various items, etc. or as fuel.

wood: the substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree. Used as a material...
Image: Joan Vilà Augé, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

wood (countable and uncountable, plural woods)

  1. (uncountable) The substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree. Used as a material for construction, to manufacture various items, etc. or as fuel.
    • This table is made of wood.
    • There was lots of wood on the beach.
    Synonyms:
    timber
  2. (countable) The wood from a particular species of tree.
    • Teak is much used for outdoor benches, but a number of other woods are also suitable, such as ipé, redwood, etc.
    • A few woods, such as cedar and redwood, are prized for their rugged naturalness and they age so beautifully that they are generally left unfinished.1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 93
  3. (countable, often) A forested or wooded area.
    • A wood beyond this moor was viewed as a border area in the seventeenth century.
    • He got lost in the woods beyond Seattle.
  4. Firewood.
    • We need more wood for the fire.
    • We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
  5. (countable) A type of golf club, the head of which was traditionally made of wood.
  6. A woodwind instrument.
  7. (slang, uncountable) An erection of the penis.
    • That girl at the strip club gave me wood.
  8. (slang, uncountable) Chess pieces.
    • […] White has nothing but a lot of frozen wood on the board while Black operates on the Q-side.1971, Chess Life & Review, volume 26, page 309

Verb

wood (third-person singular simple present woods, present participle wooding, simple past and past participle wooded)

  1. (transitive) To cover or plant with trees.
    • Their be ii good bellys, a chales, and a few veſtments of litil valure, the ſtuff beſide is not worth xl s. lead ther ys non except in ii gutters the which the p’or hath convey’d in to ye town, but that is ſuar yt is metely wodey’d in hege rowys.1542, Sir Richard Devereux, letter, in Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, London: J. Nichols, published 1792, page 155
  2. (intransitive, reflexive) To hide behind trees.
    • Immediatly, the other boate lying ready with their shot to skoure the place for our hand weapons to lande upon, which was presently done, although the land was very high and steepe, the Savages forthwith quitted the shoare, and betooke themselves to flight: wee landed, and having faire and easily...c. 1586, Sir Ralph Lane, “Lane’s Account of the Englishmen Left in Virginia”, in Henry Sweetser Burrage, editor, Early English and French Voyages: Chiefly from Hakluyt, 1534–1608, New York: Charles...
  3. (transitive) To supply with wood, or get supplies of wood for.
    • to wood a steamboat or a locomotive
    • Many passengers would save a little by helping to “wood the boat,” i. e., by carrying wood down the bank and throwing it on the boat, a special ticket being issued on that condition.1891 November, John Bidwell, “The First Emigrant Train to California”, in Josiah Gilbert Holland, Richard Watson Gilder, editors, The Century Magazine, volume XLI, number 1, Scribner & Company, page...
  4. (intransitive) To take or get a supply of wood.
    • In this little Iſle of Mevis, more than twenty Years ago, I have remained a great time together, to Wood and Water and refreſh my Men […]c. 1629, Captain John Smith, chapter XXVII, in The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captain John Smith, volume II, London: Awnsham and John Churchill, published 1704, page 409

Adjective

wood (comparative wooder, superlative woodest)

  1. (archaic) Mad, insane, crazed.
    • And then he flue on hir as he were wood, / And on hir breeche did hack and foyne a-good.1593, Thomas Nashe, The Choice of Valentines, lines 140-141
    • And like a lion wood amongst them fares,
      Dealing his dreadfull blowes with large dispence1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Noun (2)

wood (plural woods)

  1. (US, offensive, slang, sometimes) A peckerwood.
    • He further stated that "I can't remember ever seeing a wood [white inmate] assault a nigger without being provoked".1991, Mary E. Pelz, James W. Marquart and Terry Pelz, "Right-Wing Extremism in the Texas Prisons: The Rise and Fall of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas", The Prison Journal, Winter-Fall 1991
    • Other than shout-outs to fellow "woods," I found no references on their record to racism, and after getting to know the members, I think Woodpile's message is the opposite of what the L.A. Times construed it to be — they want to bring hardcore white guys to rap music, rather than alienating anyone...2009, Brendan Joel Kelly, “Pride vs. Power”, in The Phoenix New Times

Proper noun capitalized: Wood

Wood (countable and uncountable, plural Woods)

  1. An English topographic surname for someone who lived in or near a wood.
  2. A surname originating as an occupation for a woodsman.
  3. A township in Clark County, Indiana.
  4. An unincorporated community in Clayton County, Iowa.
  5. An unincorporated community in DeKalb County, Missouri.
  6. An inactive township in Wright County, Missouri.
  7. An unincorporated community in Franklin County, North Carolina.
  8. An unincorporated community in Bedford County, Fulton County and Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
  9. A township in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
  10. A small town in Mellette County, South Dakota.
  11. An unincorporated community in Mason County, West Virginia.
  12. A town in Wood County, Wisconsin.
  13. A hamlet in Ashill parish, Somerset, England (OS grid ref ST3117).
  14. A hamlet in Nolton and Roch community, Pembrokeshire, Wales (OS grid ref SM8522).

wood meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

wood in Hindi

substance
लकड़ी lakṛī, काठ kāṭh, काष्ठ kāṣṭh

wood in Tamil

மரம், மரக்கட்டை, விறகு

wood in Marathi

substance
लाकूड lākūḍ

wood in Urdu

substance
لکڑی lakṛī
More languagesFewer languages
wood in Bengali
কাঠ kaṭh
wood in Telugu
కర్ర karra, కొయ్య koyya, కాష్ఠము kāṣṭhamu, మ్రాను mrānu
wood in Malayalam
തടി taṭi, കാഷ്ഠം kāṣṭhaṁ, മരം maraṁ
wood in Kannada
ಮರ, ದಾರು, ಚೌಬೀನೆ, ಕಟ್ಟಿಗೆ
wood in Punjabi
ਕਾਠ kāṭh
wood in Gujarati
લાકડું lākḍũ
wood in Odia
କାଠ kāṭha
wood in Sanskrit
काष्ठ kāṣṭha, दारु dāru, वन vana
wood in Assamese
কাঠ kath
wood in Nepali
दाउरा dāurā, काठ kāth, झाडी jhāṛi
wood in Pashto
لرګی largay
wood in Tagalog
kahoy
wood in Arabic
خَشَب ḵašab, خشب ḵašab
wood in Malay
kayu
wood in Indonesian
kayu bakar, kayu, hutan
wood in Persian
هیزم hizom, هیمه hima, چوب čub, بیشه biše
wood in Thai
ไม้ máai
wood in Vietnamese
gỗ
wood in Myanmar
သစ် sac
Dzongkha
ཤིང shing

Examples of wood in a sentence

  • He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood.1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
  • Africa’s growing demand for wood products presents an opportunity to build a resilient bioeconomy that creates jobs, strengthens local industries and reduces pressure on natural forests.2026 June 12, Jane Mutune, Peter Minang, “Building a resilient wood-based bioeconomy in Africa”, in Forest News:
  • Macbeth ſhall neuer vanquiſh’d be, vntill / Great Byrnam Wood, to high Dunſmane Hill / Shall come againſt him.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
  • “There upon the hill, close by the wood, did I act the elf-maiden,” said Sophie.1845, Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Mary Howitt, Only a Fiddler! and O.T., volume II, London: Richard Bentley, page 298:

All 40 example sentences with wood

Synonyms of wood

All synonyms of wood

Forms of wood

Noun
pluralwoods
Verb
third-person singular presentwoods
present participlewooding
past participlewooded
pastwooded
Adjective
comparativewooder
superlativewoodest
alternative formwode
Proper noun
pluralWoods

Past tense of wood: wooded

Plural of wood: woods

Origin of wood

From Middle English wode, from Old English wudu, widu (“wood, forest, grove; tree; timber”), from Proto-West Germanic *widu, from Proto-Germanic *widuz (“wood”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- (“to separate”). The spelling developed as it did in wool. Cognate with Dutch wede (“wood, twig”), Middle High German wite (“wood”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ved (“wood”), Elfdalian wið (“wood, timber”), Faroese and Icelandic viður (“wood”), Norwegian Nynorsk ved (“wood, firewood”), vid (“wide, broad”). Further cognates include Irish fiodh (“a wood, tree”), Old Irish fid (“tree”) and Welsh gwŷdd (“trees”), from Proto-Celtic *widus (“wood”). Unrelated to Dutch woud (“forest”), German Wald (“forest”) (see English wold).

From Middle English wood, from Old English wōd (“mad, insane”). See the full etymology at wode.

Back-formation from peckerwood.

Words formed from wood

Phrases with wood

177 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with wood

8 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about wood

What does wood mean?
Wood means the substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree. Used as a material for construction, to manufacture various items, etc. or as fuel.
What is wood in Hindi?
Wood in Hindi is लकड़ी (lakṛī), काठ (kāṭh), काष्ठ (kāṣṭh). See Wood meaning in Hindi.
How do you use wood in a sentence?
He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood.
What part of speech is wood?
Wood can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce wood?
Wood is pronounced /wʊd/ (UK).
What is the plural of wood?
The plural of wood is woods.

Words near wood in the dictionary

  1. woobified
  2. woobifies
  3. woobify
  4. woobifying
  5. Wooburn
  6. wood
  7. wood acid
  8. wood alcohol
  9. wood alcohols
  10. wood and water joey
  11. wood and water joeys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wood (page history and authors); Wood (page history and authors); wood (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); కర్ర (Telugu) (page history and authors); കാഷ്ഠം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); wood (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-wood.ogg.

Cite this entry: “wood.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wood. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.