Etymologically
Log in

woody

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

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

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)