teak
Americannoun
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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.
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the wood of this tree.
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any of various similar trees or woods.
noun
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a large verbenaceous tree, Tectona grandis, of the East Indies, having white flowers and yielding a valuable dense wood
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the hard resinous yellowish-brown wood of this tree, used for furniture making, etc
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any of various similar trees or their wood
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a brown or yellowish-brown colour
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of teak
1665–75; earlier teke < Portuguese teca < Malayalam tēkka
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
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
The exhibition also spotlighted India's diverse range of high-quality hardwoods such as teak, rosewood and ebony, and the country's deeply-rooted traditions of intricate handcrafting by local artisans.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
Meanwhile, plantation teak from younger trees is widely seen by high-end shipyards as inferior, rarely coming in the long, wide, dark-brown boards associated with quality.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
It is a well-known problem that Myanmar teak continues to find its way into supply chains, passed off for example as plantation teak from other tropical countries.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
The land around the town of Nzara held rich plantations of teak and fruit trees and cotton.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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
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
Around the hospital and the church stood the beautiful ferocious trees, a complex of camphors and teaks.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
