noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
General-American:/ˈhɑɹtˌwʊd/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:HH AA1 R T W UH2 D
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
The wood nearer the heart of a stem or branch, different in color from the sapwood.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
A popular myth is that heartwood is stronger than sapwood.
The staves are split from the heartwood. The heartwood is composed of dead cells; it supports the tree, but no longer has any physiological purpose. The staves must follow the grain of the wood to achieve a watertight cask, so they are split rather than sawn. — L'encyclopédie du Cognac: From log to stave
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
the older inactive central wood of a tree or woody plant; usually darker and denser than the surrounding sapwood
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: duramen
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: wood
History
Etymology
From heart + wood.
Across languages
Translations
47 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
myjë
— wood
Armenian:
բնամիջուկ
(bnamiǰuk)
— wood
Bulgarian:
сърцевина на дърво
(sǎrcevina na dǎrvo)
— wood
