plural oaks or oak
often attributive
1
a
: any of a genus (Quercus) of trees or shrubs of the beech family that produce acorns
also : any of various plants related to or resembling the oaks
b
: the tough hard durable wood of an oak tree
2
: the leaves of an oak used as decoration

Illustration of oak

Illustration of oak
  • 1 acorn
  • 2 leaf

Examples of oak in a Sentence

Tall oaks line the street. The table is solid oak. The cabinets are made of oak.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
After fermentation in steel tanks, it was aged for 26 months in 100 percent new French oak. Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 20 July 2025 It’s surrounded by wildlife and old oak trees – 300-year-old oak trees – and lots of bird life. Taylor Mims, Billboard, 18 July 2025 In ‘The Townspeople Contemplate Eurydice,’ Hoffman compares ‘the woman’ – who is and is not Eurydice – to ‘that Russian poet / who wished / to be buried / alive / beneath an oak tree. Matthew Carey Salyer, Forbes.com, 17 July 2025 The Crooked Rail, outfitted with large oak tables and leather seating will serve Mine Hill Distillery bourbon and rye, craft cocktails of all kinds, and craft beer and wine from Connecticut. Pamela McLoughlin, Hartford Courant, 16 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for oak

Word History

Etymology

Middle English ook, oke, going back to Old English āc, going back to Germanic *eik- (whence also Old Frisian ēk "oak," Old Saxon ēc, Old High German eih, eihha, Old Norse eik), of obscure origin

Note: Old English āc is a feminine root noun (dative singular and nominative plural ǣc), though forms leveled to other declensions with umlaut are already evident. Germanic *eik- has been compared with the Greek words aigílōps, a name in Theophrastus for a species of oak (Quercus macrolepis?), and krátaigos, a species of hawthorn (also in Theophrastus), but interpretation of the conjoined elements of these words is conjectural (lṓpē is not actually attested in the sense "cork" or "bark"). The derivation of Latin aesculus "a species of oak (Quercus petraea?)" is obscure. The Lithuanian dialect forms áižuols and áužuolas "oak," superficially comparable, are hypercorrections of ą́žuolas, which is very unlikely to be related to *eik- (cf. Old Prussian ansonis = German eche in the Elbing Vocabulary).

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of oak was before the 12th century

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Cite this Entry

“Oak.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oak. Accessed 26 Jul. 2025.

Kids Definition

oak

noun
plural oaks or oak
1
: any of various trees or shrubs closely related to the beeches and chestnuts and producing acorns
2
: the tough hard wood of the oak much used for furniture and flooring
oaken adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on oak

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