woody

Etymology

It is formed from English wood + -y, from the noun with the adjective suffix:^[2][3][4][5] Middle English wodi or woddy.^[3][5] Old English had the adjective wudulic.^[3] The OED notes that woody may already appear in an Old English name of Woodyates in Dorset, if that name means "the gate or gap in the wood".^[2] The noun (1961) is formed from the same noun with a different suffix -y.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Covered or overgrown with trees, wooded: Old English, in the poem Azarias, according to the OED's revision of 2025.^[2] Etymonline dates wodi "abounding in wood, overgrown with trees" to the late 14th century,^[3] and Merriam-Webster gives the 12th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From a1382 to 1609 a tree could be woody, thick with foliage, and in 16th- and 17th-century poetry the word meant belonging to or living in the woods, sylvan (1569 to 1721).^[2][4] Johnson (1755) put "abounding with wood" first, with examples from Milton.^[6] The sense "consisting of wood" followed: plants with hard, lignified stems are woody from 1543,^[2] or the 1570s according to Etymonline,^[3] and things that look, smell, taste or sound like wood from 1597, a sense later applied to the tone of musical instruments (1851).^[2] The noun is 20th-century American slang: a station wagon with wooden side panels, in surfers' slang from 1961,^[2][3][5] and an erection of the penis from 1990.^[2][3] Etymonline also records woody for a wood pigeon by 1947,^[3] and in 19th-century British underworld slang the woody was the gallows.^[7]

Timeline

• Old English – wooded, in Azarias.^[2]
• a1382 – of a tree, bushy (obsolete by 1609).^[2]
• late 14th century – wodi, abounding in wood.^[3]
• 1543 – of a plant or stem, consisting of wood.^[2]
• 1569 – sylvan, living in woods (until 1721).^[2]
• 1597 – resembling wood in texture or smell.^[2]
• 1841 – the woody, the gallows, in underworld slang.^[7]
• 1851 – of a musical instrument, having a woody tone.^[2]
• 1947 – a wood pigeon.^[3]
• 1961 – (US surfing slang) a wood-panelled station wagon.^[2][5]
• 1990 – (North American slang) an erection.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Covered with trees or woods; wooded.
2. Of a plant or stem: consisting of or containing wood; lignified, not herbaceous.
3. Like wood in texture, taste, smell or sound: The cider had a faintly woody flavour.
4. (obsolete) Of or relating to woods; sylvan.

Noun

1. (chiefly US) A station wagon or estate car with wooden panelling on the outside.
2. (slang, chiefly North American) An erection of the penis.

Word family

• woodiness
• nonwoody
• woody nightshade

Related words

• wood
• woodsy
• wooden
• wooded
• withy

Usage notes

In Scotland woody (also widdie, wuddie) is also a form of withy.^[5][8] In Scottish, Lake District and Yorkshire dialect, vegetables that were stringy and fruit that was not juicy were called woody, and the word was also used of tough coal.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)