wood
/wʊd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.78 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "This table is made of wood."
- "There was lots of wood on the beach."
- "O that men / (Canſt thou believe ?) ſhould be ſo ſtupid grown, / While yet the Patriark liv’d, who ſcap’d the Flood, / As to forſake the living God, and fall / To worſhip thir own work in Wood and Stone / For Gods !"
- "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."
- "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. Wood remains one of Africa’s most vital natural resources, supporting livelihoods, economic development and industrial growth across the continent. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020, more than 600 million Africans depend on forests and trees for their livelihoods, relying on wood value chains for employment, energy, construction materials and income generation. The sector supports industries such as furniture manufacturing, paper production, packaging, electricity transmission, housing and construction. In rural Africa, wood and tree-based systems also provide fuel and income, forming a cornerstone of household survival. As population growth and urbanization accelerate, demand for wood products is rising sharply, creating both opportunities and challenges for sustainable development. Harnessing this potential could position the wood sector as a driver of economic transformation and green growth. At the centre of this opportunity is the idea of a resilient wood-based bioeconomy, an approach that sustainably uses renewable biological resources like wood and forest products to produce materials, energy and services while safeguarding ecosystem health."
- "Teak is much used for outdoor benches, but a number of other woods are also suitable, such as ipé, redwood, etc."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)wéydʰ(h₁)us Proto-Germanic *widuz Proto-West Germanic *widu Old English widu Old English wudu Middle English wode English 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).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /wʊd/
- British English: /wʊd/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in People.