hardwood English · revision 1764

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1568}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈhɑɹdˌwʊd/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound, [[af|en|hard|wood]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The wood or timber of deciduous trees, as distinguished from that of pines and firs (1568).^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Historical Thesaurus records the plain meaning “wood that is hard” from 1485, later narrowed to the wood of broadleaved trees.^(HTOED) The botanical sense, wood from a flowering (angiosperm) tree as opposed to a conifer, takes in both the softest and the hardest woods,^(MWU 2024)^(Webster's Third 1961) so the name no longer says anything about hardness.^(Wiktionary) In some places it meant oak in particular.^(OED 1989) In Maine in the 1840s, Bartlett reported, shipwrights and farmers used it of beech, birch, maple and ash, as opposed to oak and pine.^(Bartlett 1848)^(Etymonline) In Australia it was applied to several local timbers resembling teak and, in Tasmania, to any eucalyptus timber.^(Morris 1898)^(OED 1989) The tree itself is called a hardwood from 1721 in the Historical Thesaurus (1905 in the OED).^(HTOED)^(OED 1989) In informal American use a basketball court is ''the hardwood''.^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1485 – hard wood in general (Historical Thesaurus).^(HTOED)

+ * 1568 – the timber of deciduous trees.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1721 – a broadleaved tree (Historical Thesaurus).^(HTOED)

+ * circa 1817 – as an adjective, made of hardwood.^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1848 – Bartlett's note on its use in Maine.^(Bartlett 1848)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1888 – Australian quotations in Morris.^(Morris 1898)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The wood of a broadleaved, flowering ([[dicotyledon|alt=dicotyledonous]]) tree, such as [[oak]], [[beech]] or [[ash]], as distinguished from that of a [[conifer]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)^(COED 2004)

+ # A tree that yields such wood.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(gardening)'' Mature, woody growth on shrubs and other plants, from which cuttings are taken.^(COED 2004)^(NODE 1998)

+ # ''(informal)'' A [[basketball]] court.^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Made of hardwood.^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024)^(RHWU)

+ # Consisting of mature woody tissue.^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[softwood]]

+ * [[timber]]

+ * [[lumber]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}