heartwood
/ˈhɑɹtˌwʊd/noun
heartwood is spelled H-E-A-R-T-W-O-O-D: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 89,388th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, heartwood means “The wood nearer the heart of a stem or branch, different in color from the sapwood” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of heartwood is heartwoods.
How many letters and syllables are in heartwood?
| Letters | 9: H-E-A-R-T-W-O-O-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 89,388th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is heartwood?
Heartwood appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 89,388th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce heartwood?
- US /ˈhɑɹtˌwʊd/
Heartwood has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-heartwood.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of heartwood
- heartwoods plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does heartwood mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The wood nearer the heart of a stem or branch, different in color from the sapwood.
A popular myth is that heartwood is stronger than sapwood.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate heartwood?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of heartwood: hrtwd.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Heartwood in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense wood:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bois de cœur, duramen, bois parfait |
| German | Kernholz |
| Portuguese | cerne, durame, âmago |
| Spanish | duramen, cerno |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does heartwood come from?
From heart + wood.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).