heartwood

[ hahrt-wood ]

noun

the hard central wood of the trunk of an exogenous tree; duramen.

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Origin of heartwood

First recorded in 1795–1805; heart + wood¹

Words Nearby heartwood

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use heartwood in a sentence

She also authored heartwood, a story collection for adult literacy students, and edited The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South.
Exclusive: The National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry | The Daily Beast | September 17, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
The spores of a heartwood-inhabiting fungus cannot germinate and thrive unless they fall upon the heartwood of the tree.
Our National Forests | Richard H. Douai Boerker
Spores of parasitic fungi enter the cracks, germinate and infect the heartwood.
Our National Forests | Richard H. Douai Boerker
Nearly all the larger trees in the Fuegian forests have the heartwood decayed, and are worthless as timber.
The Land of Fire | Mayne Reid
Pur′ple-wood, -heart, the heartwood of Copaifera pubiflora, used for ramrods.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) | Various

The living outer portion of a trunk or large branch of a tree between the heartwood and the bark.
Michigan Trees | Charles Herbert Otis

British Dictionary definitions for heartwood

heartwood

/ (ˈhɑːtˌwʊd) /

noun

the central core of dark hard wood in tree trunks, consisting of nonfunctioning xylem tissue that has become blocked with resins, tannins, and oils: Compare sapwood

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for heartwood

heartwood

[ härt′wud′ ]

The older, nonliving central wood of a tree or woody plant, usually darker and harder than the younger sapwood. Unlike the sapwood, it no longer conducts water, and its main function is the support of the tree.

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