🪵 Tiny wood pieces 🔥 Wood for matchsticks

matchwood

8.1

Small broken pieces of wood that are like thin splinters

noun
/ˈmæʧˌwʊd/

: astillas

After the fire, all that was left of the furniture was matchwood and ashes.

Examples

He stepped on the broken pieces of the antique chair, which crumbled to matchwood under his weight.
It'll be crushed like matchwood.

In Like Flint (1967)
The storm was so powerful that it left the old barn in ruins, reduced to matchwood.

Synonyms

splinter

vsmatchwood

79 2.8

A small thin sharp piece broken from wood or glass

denotes many tiny broken wood pieces rather than one thin sharp fragment

flinders

vsmatchwood

9.9

Small thin pieces that break off when something is smashed

refers specifically to wood broken into very small pieces

Surface Forms

matchwood singular

matchwoods plural

Morphology

matchwood = match + wood (transparent) = match + wood

The compound clearly denotes a type or form of wood related to matches (small sticks or wood suitable for making matches), so knowing 'match' and 'wood' lets learners deduce the sense.

Etymology

Matchwood is made from match ('small stick for fire') and wood, so it looks like wood broken into very small pieces or matchsticks. That's why matchwood means wood broken or splintered into very small pieces.