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PlainSpell

timber

tim·ber/ˈtɪmbɚ/noun, interjection, verb

timber is spelled T-I-M-B-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (tim·ber). It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “timber vs timbre” about 70 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, timber means “Trees in a forest regarded as a source of wood” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of timber is timbers.

How many letters and syllables are in timber?

Letters6: T-I-M-B-E-R
Syllables2: tim·ber
In writing10 times per million words; the 7,009th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is timber?

Timber appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th 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 timber?

  • UK /ˈtɪmbə/
  • UK [ˈtɪˑmˌbəː]
  • US /ˈtɪmbɚ/

Timber has 2 syllables, split tim·ber in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-timber.ogg, En-au-timber.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with timber

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

timber vs timbre70 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with timber?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as timber (/ɪmbəɹ/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: timbre.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of timber

  • timbers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • timber!
  • timbering participle, present
  • timbered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does timber mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Trees in a forest regarded as a source of wood.

    collect timber

  2. 2

    USWood that has been pre-cut and is ready for use in construction.

  3. 3

    A heavy wooden beam, generally a whole log that has been squared off and used to provide heavy support for something such as a roof.

    the timbers of a ship

  4. 4

    Material for any structure.

  5. 5

    informalThe wooden stock of a rifle or shotgun.

  6. 6

    archaicA certain quantity of fur skins (as of martens, ermines, sables, etc.) packed between boards; in some cases forty skins, in others one hundred and twenty. Also timmer, timbre.

  7. 7

    slangThe stumps.

interjection

  1. 1

    Used by loggers to warn others that a tree being felled is falling.

  2. 2

    A cry used when anything is falling over.

verb

  1. 1

    To fit with timbers.

    timbering a roof

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo construct, frame, build.

  3. 3

    To light or land on a tree.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo make a nest.

  5. 5

    To surmount as a timber does.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate timber?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of timber: tbr., tmbr..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Timber in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbois, arbres (trees considered as a source of wood), bois de charpente, bois de construction, bois de menuiserie (wood that has been cut ready for construction), madrier (beam used to support something such as a roof…)
GermanHolz, Nutzholz (trees considered as a source of wood), Bauholz, Schnittholz, Konstruktionsholz (wood that has been cut ready for construction), Baum fällt! (warning shout used by loggers)
Portuguesemadeira (trees considered as a source of wood), viga (beam used to support something such as a roof…), madeira! (warning shout used by loggers)
Spanishmadera, leña (trees considered as a source of wood), leño, madero (wood that has been cut ready for construction), viga (beam used to support something such as a roof…), fuera abajo (warning shout used by loggers)

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 timber come from?

From Middle English tymber, from Old English timber, from Proto-West Germanic *timr, from Proto-Germanic *timrą (“building; timber”), from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“to build; to arrange”) (see Proto-Indo-European *dṓm (“home, house”)).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after timber