softwood

English

Etymology

From soft +‎ wood.

Noun

softwood (countable and uncountable, plural softwoods)

1. (uncountable, chiefly botany) The wood from any gymnosperm, without regard to how soft this wood is.
   • 1952 January, “British Railways Standard Wagons”, in Railway Magazine, page 61:

     The bodies are sheeted in softwood, a double layer of ⅝-in. boards on the quarters, with a single thickness lining inside the steel ends.

2. (countable, in more general use) Wood of this kind, but limited to those that are commercial timbers.
3. (countable, forestry) The tree or tree species that yields this wood.

   SYP is a softwood, but it is harder than many hardwoods.

   This softwood has been planted extensively throughout Scotland.

4. (uncountable) Any commercial timber.

   You should have used softwood for the frame of this shed, instead of overbuilding it like this.

Translations

wood from a gymnosperm

• Finnish: havupuu (fi)
• German: Nadelholz (de) n
• Irish: adhmad bog m, bogadhmad m
• Maori: rākau mohe
• Tagalog: banakal (tl)

commercial timber from a gymnosperm

• Finnish: havupuu (fi)
• German: Nadelholz (de) n
• Irish: adhmad bog m, bogadhmad m

tree that yields the timber

• Finnish: havupuu (fi)
• German: Nadelgewächs n, Nadelholzgewächs n, Nadelholz (de) n

commercial timber in general

• Finnish: sahatavara (fi) (sawn goods); puu (fi) (wood as material)
• German: Holz (de) n, Bauholz (de) n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} conifère (fr) m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Weichholz (de) n
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} madera blanda f, ^{(please verify)} madera tierna f

See also

• hardwood
• wood
• timber
• lumber