: 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
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 WebClimate & Environment Tree-killing beetle is on a death march through Southern California’s oaks.—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2024 Organic materials such as bamboo, rattan, and oak grace the soothing indoor-outdoor living spaces that merge effortlessly.—Helen Iatrou, Travel + Leisure, 16 May 2024 Matter of fact, there’s a lot of mushrooms near oak trees.—Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 15 May 2024 Light oak runs across the floors, while raffia and leather adorn the walls.—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 15 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for oak
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'oak.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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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