teak

Etymology

It is borrowed from Portuguese teca,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from Malayalam തേക്ക് (tēkka).^{[2][4][5][6][7][1]} The Malayalam word corresponds to Tamil தேக்கு (tēkku), which the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English name beside the Malayalam form as the source.^[2][8][9][1] The OED records the Portuguese word from 1602 to 1644, after Yule.^[2] Hobson-Jobson quotes it in 1602 in a Portuguese chronicle of a box made of teca, a wood not subject to decay.^[10] It explains the Dravidian name by the fact that Europeans first came to know the wood in Malabar, one of the two great sources of supply, the other being Pegu.^[10] Hobson-Jobson notes that the tree's Sanskrit name has a separate source, and gives it as the origin of its Hindi and Marathi names and probably of its name in Arabic and in Persian;^[10][3] Klein instead derived the Malayalam word itself from the Sanskrit name.^[11] Partridge compares French teck, originally spelled teka.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The large East Indian tree, or more usually its timber: 1698, in John Fryer's A New Account of East India and Persia.^[2][6][5] Hobson-Jobson quotes Fryer's account under 1675, where the word is spelled Teke, said to be the Portuguese name, and is the timber ships are built with.^[10] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1665–75, with the earlier form teke.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In Fryer's account teak is already the timber ships were built of, the firmest wood for building in that part of India;^[10] Wiktionary stresses its value in shipbuilding.^[1] In 1727 A. Hamilton wrote of good quantities of Teak Timber cut and exported for houses and ships.^[10] From 1842 the name was also given, usually with a defining word, to other trees with strong timber or some likeness to the Indian teak, such as African teak and Australian teak,^[2][14][1] and since 1934 to a reddish or yellowish-brown colour like that of the wood.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 1698 – the East Indian tree, and its timber.^[2][6][5]
• 1727 – Teak Timber, in A. Hamilton.^[10]
• 1842 – other trees with strong timber, with a defining word.^[2]
• 1934 – a fashion colour like that of teak wood.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tall tropical tree of southern Asia, Tectona grandis, planted also in West Africa and tropical America for its wood.^[5][14][2]
2. The hard, durable yellowish-brown timber of this tree, resistant to insects and to warping, used for ships and furniture: The deck was laid in teak.^[5][14][2]
3. Any of various other trees with similar wood, or their timber.^[14][2]
4. A brown or yellowish-brown colour.^[14][2][1]

Adjective

1. Made of teak: a teak bench.^[5][1]

Word family

• teakwood

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g Yule, Henry; Burnell, A. C. (1903), Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, new ed. by William Crooke, London: John Murray
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins