English Explanatory Dictionary

yew

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. 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. Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.
  3. Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus:
  4. in family Podocarpaceae.
  5. in family Cephalotaxaceae.
  6. The wood of such trees.
  7. A bow for archery, made of yew wood.
adj
  1. Made from the wood of the yew tree.
pron
  1. Eye dialect spelling of you.

Pronunciation

yo͞o /juː/ /jɪʊ̯/ En-uk-you.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-you.wav En-us-you.ogg

Word forms

yew yews ew

Etymology

From Middle English ew, from Old English īw, ēow, [both cognates of Welsh yw (“yews”), Irish eo, Old Irish eó respectively]; although the Old English form was conjectured 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”), Latgalian īva (“bird cherry”), Lithuanian ievà (“bird cherry”), Russian и́ва (íva, “willow”).

Synonyms

English yew European yew common yew yewen

Derived words

Anglojap yew Canadian yew catkin yew Chinese yew Eubank Ewbank European yew common yew Florida yew Himalayan yew Japanese yew Mexican yew New Caledonian yew southern yew nutmeg yew Pacific yew western yew plum yew plum-yew Prince Albert's yew self-yew Sumatran yew white-berry yew yew pine hold yew hard
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