osier
/ˈoʊʒəɹ/noun
osier is a noun meaning “A willow, of species Salix viminalis, growing in wet places in Europe and Asia, and introduced into North America, considered the best willow for…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled O-S-I-E-R, and it appears about once in every 29 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of osier is osiers.
What does osier mean?
noun
- 1
A willow, of species Salix viminalis, growing in wet places in Europe and Asia, and introduced into North America, considered the best willow for wickerwork.
- 2
Any kind of willow.
- 3
Long, pliable twigs of this plant, or of other similar plants.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce osier?
- UK /ˈəʊzɪə/
- UK /ˈəʊʒə/
- US /ˈoʊʒəɹ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-osier.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of osier
- osiers plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is osier?
Osier appears about once in every 29 million words in written English, the 163,711th 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).
Osier in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | saule des vanniers |
| German | Korb-Weide |
| Portuguese | vimeiro , vime |
| Spanish | mimbre, mimbrera, mimbrera blanca |
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 osier come from?
Borrowed from French osier (“basket willow, withy”)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).