Etymologically
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hardwood

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 14 October 2026 at 20:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈhɑɹdˌwʊd/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is a compound, from English hard + wood.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The wood or timber of deciduous trees, as distinguished from that of pines and firs (1568).[5][6][2]

Semantic evolution

The Historical Thesaurus records the plain meaning “wood that is hard” from 1485, later narrowed to the wood of broadleaved trees.[7] The botanical sense, wood from a flowering (angiosperm) tree as opposed to a conifer, takes in both the softest and the hardest woods,[3][8] so the name no longer says anything about hardness.[1] In some places it meant oak in particular.[5] In Maine in the 1840s, Bartlett reported, shipwrights and farmers used it of beech, birch, maple and ash, as opposed to oak and pine.[9][2] In Australia it was applied to several local timbers resembling teak and, in Tasmania, to any eucalyptus timber.[10][5] The tree itself is called a hardwood from 1721 in the Historical Thesaurus (1905 in the OED).[7][5] In informal American use a basketball court is the hardwood.[6][3]

Timeline

  • 1485 – hard wood in general (Historical Thesaurus).[7]
  • 1568 – the timber of deciduous trees.[5][6][2]
  • 1721 – a broadleaved tree (Historical Thesaurus).[7]
  • circa 1817 – as an adjective, made of hardwood.[6][3]
  • 1848 – Bartlett's note on its use in Maine.[9][2]
  • 1888 – Australian quotations in Morris.[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The wood of a broadleaved, flowering (dicotyledonous) tree, such as oak, beech or ash, as distinguished from that of a conifer.
  2. A tree that yields such wood.
  3. (gardening) Mature, woody growth on shrubs and other plants, from which cuttings are taken.
  4. (informal) A basketball court.

Adjective

  1. Made of hardwood.
  2. Consisting of mature woody tissue.
  • softwood
  • timber
  • lumber

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  9. ^ a b Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
  10. ^ a b Morris, Edward E. (1898), Austral English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases and Usages, London: Macmillan