teak

American  

[teek] / tik /

noun

• teaks
  plural

1. a large East Indian tree, Tectona grandis, of the verbena family, yielding a hard, durable, resinous, yellowish-brown wood used for shipbuilding, making furniture, etc.

2. the wood of this tree.

3. any of various similar trees or woods.

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teak British  

/ tiːk /

noun

1. a large verbenaceous tree, Tectona grandis, of the East Indies, having white flowers and yielding a valuable dense wood

2. the hard resinous yellowish-brown wood of this tree, used for furniture making, etc

3. any of various similar trees or their wood

4. a brown or yellowish-brown colour

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• teaks
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of teak

1665–75; earlier teke < Portuguese teca < Malayalam tēkka

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

teak teaks

Cecil Wright & Partners, a luxury yacht broker, filed the legal action in London’s High Court over Storonsky’s acquisition of Nixie, a 102-meter vessel with four terraces and an Indian teak deck.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Other impressive features found in the space included original teak plank flooring, an original marble staircase, and original picture moldings and wainscoting.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 22, 2026

While the furniture and housing industries also use old-growth teak, they have generally found it easier to substitute plantation teak than the yachting industry, he adds.

From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026

"Alternatives to natural teak are very welcome," says Walter Kollert, a Portugal-based forestry consultant and member of the steering committee of TEAKNET, a non-profit international teak information network.

From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026

He tried the low teak door but it was locked.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

When you buy plantation teaks, you have a lot of wood that's just not usable, says Lapp.

From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026

Utuado is surrounded by dense forest of native ceiba, Asian teaks, and West Indian and Honduran mahogany where parrots roost.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2017

David Stahle of the University of Arkansas Tree Ring Lab recently presented data derived from teaks in Java and firs in Mexico and the American Southwest that date back to 1706.

From Time Magazine Archive

There were camphor trees and teaks and African cedars and red stinkwood trees, and here and there a dark green cloud of leaves mushroomed above the forest canopy.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

The valley was cloaked in African olive trees, African cedars, broad-leaved croton trees, Hagenia abyssinica trees drenched in moss, and whiplike young gray Elgon teaks.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

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