Standard Lemma guide

plywood

noun · verb · 4 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation, US: /ˈplaɪwʊd/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • British, Southern, Standard: /ˈplɑjwɵd/
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈplɑewʊd/
  • Northern-Ireland, Scotland: /ˈplaɪwʉd/
  • CMU ARPABET: P L AY1 W UH2 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Construction material supplied in sheets, and made of three or more layers of wood veneer glued together, laid up with alternating layers having their grain perpendicular to each other.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • After the hurricane there was a severe regional shortage of plywood, especially exterior plywood.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A specific grade or type of this construction material.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, usually

Examples

  • We stock exterior plywoods, interior plywoods, and furniture plywoods.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To fit or block up with plywood.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a laminate made of thin layers of wood

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: plyboard

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: laminate

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English ply Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1 Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dheh1- Proto-Indo-European *h1weydhh1- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *(h1)wéydh(h1)us Proto-Germanic *widuz Proto-West Germanic *widu Old English widu Old English wudu Middle English wode English wood English plywood From ply (“sheet”) + wood.

Across languages

Translations

92 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: kompensatë — construction material
  • Arabic: خَشَب رَقَائِقِيّ (ḵašab raqāʔiqiyy) — construction material
  • Arabic: خَشَب مُعَاكِس (ḵašab muʕākis) — construction material
  • Arabic: أبلكاش — construction material
  • Arabic: أبلكاش (ʔablakāš) — construction material
  • Armenian: ֆաներ (faner) — construction material
  • Armenian: ֆաներա (fanera) — construction material
  • Armenian: նրբատախտակ (nrbataxtak) — construction material
  • Azerbaijani: kontrplak — construction material
  • Azerbaijani: fanera — construction material
  • Belarusian: фане́ра (fanjéra) — construction material
  • Belarusian: фанэ́ра (fanéra) — construction material
  • Bengali: প্লাইউড (plaiuḍ) — construction material
  • Bulgarian: шпе́рплат (špérplat) — construction material
  • Burmese: သုံးထပ်သား (sum:htapsa:) — construction material
  • Burmese: အထပ်သား (a.htapsa:) — construction material
  • Catalan: contraplacat — construction material
  • Chinese Mandarin: 合板 (hébǎn) — construction material
  • Chinese Mandarin: 膠合板 /胶合板 (jiāohébǎn) — construction material
  • Chinese Mandarin: 夾板 /夹板 (jiābǎn) — construction material
  • Czech: překližka — construction material
  • Danish: krydsfiner — construction material
  • Dutch: multiplex — construction material
  • Estonian: vineer — construction material
  • Finnish: vaneri — construction material
  • French: contreplaqué — construction material
  • Georgian: ფანერი (paneri) — construction material
  • Georgian: ფირფიცარი (pirpicari) — construction material
  • German: Sperrholz — construction material
  • Greek: κοντραπλακέ (kontraplaké) — construction material
  • Hebrew: עץ סנדוויץ׳ — construction material
  • Hindi: परतदार लकड़ी (paratdār lakṛī) — construction material
  • Hindi: प्लाईवुड (plāīvuḍ) — construction material
  • Hungarian: rétegeltlemez (fa) — construction material
  • Hungarian: furnérlemez — construction material
  • Icelandic: krossviður — construction material
  • Indonesian: kayu lapis — construction material
  • Irish: sraithadhmad — construction material
  • Italian: compensato — construction material
  • Japanese: 合板 — construction material
  • Japanese: ベニヤ板 (beniya ita) — construction material
  • Japanese: プライウッド (puraiuddo) — construction material
  • Kazakh: фанера (fanera) — construction material
  • Khmer: ក្តារបន្ទះ (kdaa bɑɑbɑntĕəh) — construction material
  • Korean: 합판 (hap'pan) — construction material
  • Korean: 베니어판 (benieopan) — construction material
  • Korean: 플라이우드 (peullaiudeu) — construction material
  • Kyrgyz: фанера (fanera) — construction material
  • Lao: ໄມ້ອັດ (mai ʼat) — construction material
  • Latvian: saplāksnis — construction material
  • Lithuanian: fanera — construction material
  • Macedonian: шперплоча (šperploča) — construction material
  • Malay: papan lapis — construction material
  • Māori: papa tāpatupatu — construction material
  • Marshallese: būļāwūt — construction material
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kryssfiner — construction material
  • Iranian Persian: تَخْتِهٔ لایِه (taxte-ye lâye) — construction material
  • Iranian Persian: تَخْتِهٔ سِهلایی (taxte-ye se-lâyi) — construction material
  • Polish: sklejka — construction material
  • Polish: dykta — construction material
  • Portuguese: madeira compensada — construction material
  • Portuguese: compensado — construction material
  • Portuguese: contraplacado — construction material
  • Romanian: placaj — construction material
  • Russian: фане́ра (fanéra) — construction material
  • Scottish Gaelic: fiodh-fillte — construction material
  • Serbo-Croatian: шпѐрплоча — construction material
  • Serbo-Croatian: špèrploča — construction material
  • Sicilian: lignu cumpinzatu — construction material
  • Silesian: szperplata — construction material
  • Slovak: preglejka — construction material
  • Slovene: vezana plošča — construction material
  • Spanish: contrachapado — construction material
  • Spanish: triplay — construction material
  • Spanish: contrachapeado — construction material
  • Swedish: plywood — construction material
  • Swedish: kryssfaner — construction material
  • Tagalog: tablasuson — construction material
  • Tajik: фанер (faner) — construction material
  • Thai: ไม้อัด (máai-àt) — construction material
  • Turkish: kontrplak — construction material
  • Turkmen: faner — construction material
  • Ukrainian: фане́ра (fanéra) — construction material
  • Urdu: پِلائی وُڈ (pilāī vuḍ) — construction material
  • Uzbek: faner — construction material
  • Vietnamese: ván ép — construction material
  • Welsh: pren haenog — construction material
  • Finnish: vaneri — specific type or grade of this material
  • French: contreplaqué — specific type or grade of this material
  • Polish: sklejka — specific type or grade of this material
  • Polish: dykta — specific type or grade of this material
  • Scottish Gaelic: fiodh-fillte — specific type or grade of this material