wood

A2 Topic:Materials & Substances

US /wʊd/ UK /wʊd/ See IPA manual

Homophones

would /wʊd/

Minimal pairs

Sounds like wooed /ʊ/ vs /uː/

Freq #2161

Meanings

1

noun
The hard material that trees are made of, used for building and making things.

This table is made of solid wood.
2

noun
A large area covered with trees, smaller than a forest.

We went for a walk through the woods.
3

noun
Wood used as fuel for a fire.

We need more wood for the fire.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the hard material that... timber

2 noun · a large area covered with... forest woodlandwoods

Word family

Forms woodingwoods

Derived forms alderwoodalgumwoodaloeswoodapplewoodarrowwoodashwoodbackwoodbackwoodsbalsawoodbarwoodbasketwoodbasswood

Related forms firth grove holt hurst shaw thicket treewaldwealdwold woodenwoods

Appears in

Phrases (1)

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wood chisel
a chisel designed for shaping or cutting wood

Noun + noun

Idioms (2)

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neck of the woods
someone's local area or part of the country
out of the woods
past the worst of a danger or difficulty

Proverbs (3)

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Tongue twisters (1)

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How Much Wood
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck If a woodchuck could and would chuck wood? He’d chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would If a woodchuck could and would chuck wood.

Alternate the rounded /w/ with the short stop-and-release of /tʃ/. Wood, would and could share /ʊ/; chuck and much use /ʌ/ in many Englis...

Simplified etymology

Wood comes from Old English and first meant “a tree.” The sense “a small forest” appeared soon afterward.

Etymology

PIE word *dwóh₁ 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, Swedish ved (“wood”), Elfdalian wið (“wood, timber”), Faroese, Icelandic viður (“wood”), Norwegian Nynorsk ved (“wood, firewood”), vid (“wide, broad”). Further cognates include Irish fiodh (“a wood, tree”), Irish fid (“tree”)…

*dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European wode Middle English wudu Old English *widu Proto-West Germanic *widuz Proto-Germanic *h₁weydʰh₁- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Materials & Substances

External links

# wood

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /wʊd/
**IPA (UK):** /wʊd/
**Frequency rank:** 2161

## Meanings
1. The hard material that trees are made of, used for building and making things.
2. A large area covered with trees, smaller than a forest.
3. Wood used as fuel for a fire.

## Examples
- This table is made of solid wood.
- We went for a walk through the woods.
- We need more wood for the fire.

## Derived Forms
- alderwood
- algumwood
- aloeswood
- applewood
- arrowwood
- ashwood
- backwood
- backwoods
- balsawood
- barwood
- basketwood
- basswood

## Related Forms
- firth
- grove
- holt
- hurst
- shaw
- thicket
- tree
- wald
- weald
- wold
- wooden
- woods

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *dʰeh₁-
- Root: wode
- Root: wudu
- Root: *widu
- Root: *widuz
- Root: *h₁weydʰh₁-

## Etymology
PIE word *dwóh₁ 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, Swedish ved (“wood”), Elfdalian wið (“wood, timber”), Faroese, Icelandic viður (“wood”), Norwegian Nynorsk ved (“wood, firewood”), vid (“wide, broad”). Further cognates include Irish fiodh (“a wood, tree”), Irish fid (“tree”)…

## AI Etymology
Wood is 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, Swedish ved (“wood”), Elfdalian wið (“wood, timber”), Faroese, Icelandic viður (“wood”), Norwegian Nynorsk ved (“wood, firewood”), vid (“wide, broad”). Important historical forms include Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-, Middle English wode, Old English wudu, Proto-West Germanic *widu, Proto-Germanic *widuz, and Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁-.

## Topics
- Materials & Substances

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wood

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Appears in

Phrases (1)

Idioms (2)

Proverbs (3)

Tongue twisters (1)

Simplified etymology

Etymology

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