yew

¹ American  

[yoo] / yu /

noun

1. any of several evergreen, coniferous trees and shrubs of the genera Taxus and Torreya, constituting the family Taxaceae, of the Old World, North America, and Japan, having needlelike or scalelike foliage and seeds enclosed in a fleshy aril.

2. the fine-grained, elastic wood of any of these trees.

3. an archer's bow made of this wood.

4. this tree or its branches as a symbol of sorrow, death, or resurrection.

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yew ² American  

[yoo, yoo] / yu, yʊ /

pronoun

Eye Dialect.

1. you.

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yew British  

/ juː /

noun

1. any coniferous tree of the genus Taxus, of the Old World and North America, esp T. baccata, having flattened needle-like leaves, fine-grained elastic wood, and solitary seeds with a red waxy aril resembling berries: family Taxaceae

2. the wood of any of these trees, used to make bows for archery

3. archery a bow made of yew

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Etymology

Origin of yew

before 900; Middle English ew ( e ), Old English ēow, ī ( o ) w; cognate with Old High German īga, īwa ( Middle High German īwe, German Eibe ), Old Norse ýr, MIr eó yew ( Old Irish: stem, shaft), Welsh ywen yew tree, Russian íva willow

Explanation

Use the noun yew when you're talking about the medium-sized evergreen that has flat needles and small red berries. This ancient and durable tree confirms the theory that the longer you hang around English, the more homophones — words that sound the same though they're spelled differently — you'll pick up. There are several of these in the case of yew. Curious thing is, all four words in English with this pronunciation (yew, ewe, you, and u) appeared before the 12th century. Guess we just like to make the sound.

Example Sentences

We examined the needles and bark of each tree, being careful not to pick out a whitebark pine, Pacific yew or Western white pine—threatened or rare species.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025

Any absence would be a major blow for Slot, with Mohamed Salah at the Africa Cup of Nations and Cody Gakpo not ready to return from a muscle injury until early in the yew year.

From Barron's • Dec. 22, 2025

His father was unaware that the berries were toxic and the coroner said the local authority's neighbourhood manager for environmental health was also unaware that yew trees were poisonous.

From BBC • Dec. 4, 2023

The Fens of eastern England, a low-lying, extremely flat landscape dominated by agricultural fields, was once a vast woodland filled with huge yew trees, according to new research.

From Science Daily • Nov. 26, 2023

He turned back to the yew tree, standing there, not moving.

From "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness