yew

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable) A species of coniferous tree, Taxus baccata, with dark-green flat needle-like leaves and seeds bearing red arils, native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia.
2. (broadly, countable) Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.
3. (countable, uncountable) Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus:
4. (countable, uncountable) Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus:
5. (uncountable) The wood of the such trees.
6. (countable, uncountable) A bow for archery, made of yew wood.

Adj

Made from the wood of the yew tree.

Pron

Eye dialect spelling of you.

Synonyms

English yew

common yew

stylus

tree

🌳

yew tree

Taxaceae

Pacific yew

english yew

chisel

european yew

smilax

Translations

Eibe

if

tejo

tasso

teix

teixo

taxus

taxus

venijnboom

τάξος

if commun

Taxus

Eibenholz

Pronounced as (IPA)

/juː/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: ew

Inherited from Old English: īw

Cognate with Icelandic: ýr

Cognate with Dutch: ijf

Cognate with German: Eibe

Cognate with Hittite:

Cognate with Welsh: yw

Cognate with Irish: sga

Cognate with Old English: īw

Cognate with Old English: ēow

Cognate with Latgalian: īva

Cognate with Lithuanian: ievà

Cognate with Russian: и́ва

In summary

From Middle English ew, from Old English īw, ēow, assumed to be from Proto-West Germanic *īhu, from Proto-Germanic *īhwaz (compare Icelandic ýr), masculine variant of *īwō (compare Dutch ijf, German Eibe), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-.
See also Hittite 𒄑𒂊𒅀𒀭 (eyan, “type of evergreen”), Welsh yw (“yews”), Irish eo [both cognates of Old English īw, Old English ēow]; and Latgalian īva (“bird cherry”), Lithuanian ievà (“bird cherry”), Russian и́ва (íva, “willow”).