oak

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for furniture and flooring
  2. noun a deciduous tree of the genus Quercus; has acorns and lobed leaves

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English ake, hok, oek, ok, oke, from Old English aac, āc, ǣċ, from Proto-West Germanic *aik, from Proto-Germanic *aiks (“oak”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyǵ- (“oak”). Cognates From Proto-Germanic: Scots aik, ake, yik (“oak”), North Frisian iake, iik (“oak”), Saterland Frisian Eeke (“oak”), West Frisian iik (“oak”), Cimbrian aicha, oach (“oak”), Dutch eik (“oak”), German Eiche (“oak”), Luxembourgish Eech (“oak”), Vilamovian aach, aeh́, ǡh́ (“oak”), Danish eg (“oak”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian Nynorsk eik (“oak”), Norwegian Bokmål eik, ek (“oak”), Swedish ek (“oak”). From Proto-Indo-European: Latin aesculus (“Italian oak”), Ancient Greek αἰγίλωψ (aigílōps, “Turkey oak”), Albanian enjë (“English yew; stinking juniper”), Latvian ozols (“oak”), Lithuanian ąžuolas (“oak”).

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