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Glite Dictionary
heartwood

heartwood

1 7.2
Hard inner wood in a tree trunk that is darker and more durable than outer wood
  • noun
  • /ˈhɑrtˌwʊd/
  • Specialized
: madera dura
  • Far at the depths of old Papua, where the river builds her white anger, Bulolo keeps a church carved from the heartwood of a massive klinki tree.
  • heartwood of the tree
  • heartwood and bark

So if you're looking at like a tree, OK, the tree has bark, it has a cambium layer, and then it has what's called the heartwood.

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Examples

  • It is crafted of fine layers of dark heartwood melded with primal magic.

    Blog text (32)

  • Heartwood was next, bone-hard and dead.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • It is a red dye obtained from the heartwood of a tree.

  • Looking at them, you can almost see it, sturdy as heartwood, glowing through the translucent flesh.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Splitting the locust revealed pale green heartwood and creamy-white sapwood.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The wedge hammered deeper and deeper into the heartwood, so deep it could never be dislodged until the thing into which it had been driven split asunder.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Because of the trees' age and massive diameter, the desirable heartwood was extremely tight-grained, making the lumber harder and more durable than the relatively immature wood of the same species that is harvested today.

    Blog text (22)

  • The heartwood of the oak tree is prized for its durability and rich color.

  • When crafting furniture, artisans prefer to use heartwood for its strength and beautiful grain.

  • The heartwood typically darkens as the tree ages, making it a popular choice for decorative woodwork.

Synonyms

duramen
vsheartwood
  • Specialized
9.9

Hard inner wood in a tree that is darker and older than the outer wood

is the inner wood that is inactive in sap transport rather than about age

Surface Forms

heartwood singular
heartwoods plural

Morphology

heartwood = heart + wood (transparent) = heart + wood

The meaning 'inner or central wood of a tree' is directly predictable from 'heart' (centre) + 'wood'.

Etymology

Heartwood is simply heart + wood, where heart means the 'center' or 'core' and wood means the tree material. Think of it as the tree's 'heart' — the old, dark, strong wood in the middle that gives the tree strength. That's why heartwood means the hard, inner part of a tree trunk.