wool

A2 Topic:Materials & Substances

US /wʊl/ UK /wʊl/ See IPA manual

Freq #8634

Meanings

1

noun
The soft, thick hair that grows on sheep.

In winter the sheep grow a thick coat of wool.
2

noun
Thread or cloth made from the hair of sheep.

My new sweater is made of warm wool.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the soft, thick hair that... fleece

2 noun · thread or cloth made from... woolen

Word family

Forms wools

Derived forms abb-woolbullswoolcotton-wooldewooldyed-in-the-woolkaowoollambswoollongwoolnonwoolpolywoolrockwoolshortwool

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

wire wool
a mass of fine metal fibers used for scrubbing or polishing

Noun + noun

Idioms (1)

See all

pull the wool over someone's eyes
to deceive someone

Simplified etymology

Wool is recorded in Old English from about AD 700 and descends from an ancient root also represented by Latin lana, “wool.” The adjective woolly later developed the figurative sense “vague or confused” from the fuzzy, indistinct appearance of wool.

Etymology

From Middle English wolle, from Old English wull, from Proto-West Germanic *wullu, from Proto-Germanic *wullō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Wulle, German Low German Wull, Dutch wol, German Wolle, Norwegian ull; also Welsh gwlân, Latin lāna, Lithuanian vi̇̀lna, Russian во́лос (vólos), Slovak vlna, Bulgarian влас (vlas), Albanian lesh (“wool, hair, fleece”). Doublet of lana. The vowel development u → o → oo is purely graphical. Modern English generally avoids the string ⟨wu⟩ in favour of ⟨wo⟩, and the resulting woll was then altered to wool (as s…

*h₂welh₁- Proto-Indo-European wolle Middle English wull Old English *wullu Proto-West Germanic *wullō Proto-Germanic *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂ Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Materials & Substances

External links

# wool

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /wʊl/
**IPA (UK):** /wʊl/
**Frequency rank:** 8634

## Meanings
1. The soft, thick hair that grows on sheep.
2. Thread or cloth made from the hair of sheep.

## Examples
- In winter the sheep grow a thick coat of wool.
- My new sweater is made of warm wool.

## Derived Forms
- abb-wool
- bullswool
- cotton-wool
- dewool
- dyed-in-the-wool
- kaowool
- lambswool
- longwool
- nonwool
- polywool
- rockwool
- shortwool

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *h₂welh₁-
- Root: wolle
- Root: wull
- Root: *wullu
- Root: *wullō
- Root: *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂

## Etymology
From Middle English wolle, from Old English wull, from Proto-West Germanic *wullu, from Proto-Germanic *wullō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Wulle, German Low German Wull, Dutch wol, German Wolle, Norwegian ull; also Welsh gwlân, Latin lāna, Lithuanian vi̇̀lna, Russian во́лос (vólos), Slovak vlna, Bulgarian влас (vlas), Albanian lesh (“wool, hair, fleece”). Doublet of lana. The vowel development u → o → oo is purely graphical. Modern English generally avoids the string ⟨wu⟩ in favour of ⟨wo⟩, and the resulting woll was then altered to wool (as s…

## AI Etymology
Wool is from Middle English wolle, from Old English wull, from Proto-West Germanic *wullu, from Proto-Germanic *wullō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Wulle, German Low German Wull, Dutch wol, German Wolle, Norwegian ull; also Welsh gwlân, Latin lāna, Lithuanian vi̇̀lna, Russian во́лос (vólos), Slovak vlna, Bulgarian влас (vlas), Albanian lesh (“wool, hair, fleece”). Doublet of lana. The vowel development u → o → oo is purely graphical. Important historical forms include Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁-, Middle English wolle, Old English wull, Proto-West Germanic *wullu, Proto-Germanic *wullō, and Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂. In present-day use, it can mean the soft, thick hair that grows on sheep, or thread or cloth made from the hair of sheep.

## Topics
- Materials & Substances

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