timber

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable) Trees in a forest regarded as a source of wood.
2. (US, uncountable) Wood that has been pre-cut and is ready for use in construction.
3. (countable) A heavy wooden beam, generally a whole log that has been squared off and used to provide heavy support for something such as a roof.
4. (countable, uncountable) Material for any structure.
5. (countable, informal, uncountable) The wooden stock of a rifle or shotgun.
6. (archaic, countable, uncountable) A certain quantity of fur skins (as of martens, ermines, sables, etc.) packed between boards; in some cases forty skins, in others one hundred and twenty. Also timmer, timbre.
7. (countable, slang, uncountable) The stumps.

Intj

1. Used by loggers to warn others that a tree being felled is falling.
2. By extension, a cry used when anything is falling over.

Verb

1. (transitive) To fit with timbers.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To construct, frame, build.
3. (intransitive) To light or land on a tree.
4. (obsolete) To make a nest.
5. (transitive) To surmount as a timber does.

Synonyms

wood

🪵

lumber

log

forest

tree

🌳

plank

piece of wood

quality

timbre

woodland

beam

woods

timberland

tone

silva

board

bole

wood lumber

lumber

lignum

logs

material

splinter

stand

stock

stringer

stuff

trunk

cut timber

tone colour

antler

tone color

sylva

sawed timber

tone quality

antlers

arbor

balk

balsa

boards

bolster

building material

building materials

chip

chunk

fabric

felling

fess

fesse

firewood

Translations

bois

🪵

Holz

🪵

madeira

🪵

madera

🪵

hout

🪵

ξυλεία

legname

legno

🪵

Bauholz

خشب

🪵

fusta

🪵

bois de charpente

lignum

dar

🌳

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈtɪmbə/

Etymology

Cognate with Dutch: timmer

Cognate with Old High German: zimbar

Cognate with German: Zimmer

Cognate with Norwegian: tømmer

Cognate with Old Norse: timbr

Cognate with Gothic: 𐍄𐌹𐌼𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽

Cognate with Latin: domus

Cognate with Ancient Greek: δόμος

In summary

From Middle English tymber, from Old English timber, from Proto-West Germanic *timr, from Proto-Germanic *timrą, from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“build, house”) (see Proto-Indo-European *dṓm).
Cognates include Dutch timmer, Old High German zimbar (German Zimmer), Norwegian tømmer, Old Norse timbr, Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌼𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (timrjan, “to build”), Latin domus and Ancient Greek δόμος (dómos).