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woody

/ˈwʊdi/adjective, noun

woody is spelled W-O-O-D-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Woody, the name). As an adjective, woody means “Covered in woods; wooded” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in woody?

Letters5: W-O-O-D-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.6 times per million words; the 9,313th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like

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 woody?

Woody appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Woody, the name.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce woody?

  • /ˈwʊdi/

Woody 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-woody.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with woody

Sounds like: woodie (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: woodie.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of woody

  • woodier comparative
  • woodiest superlative
  • woodies plural

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

What does woody mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Covered in woods; wooded.

  2. 2

    Consisting of wood; resembling wood in appearance or texture.

  3. 3

    obsoleteBelonging to the woods; sylvan.

  4. 4

    Non-herbaceous.

    Subshrubs, shrubs, trees and lianas are all woody plants.

  5. 5

    Lignified.

    the woody parts of a plant

noun

  1. 1

    Alternative form of woodie.

  2. 2

    slangA compact wooden climbing wall used for board climbing.

  3. 3

    slangvulgarAn erect penis.

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

Woody in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchboisé (covered in woods), ligneux (non-herbaceous)
Germanbewaldet, waldig (covered in woods), holzig (non-herbaceous), verholzt (lignified)
Spanishboscoso (covered in woods), leñoso (non-herbaceous)
Portugueselenhoso (non-herbaceous)

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 woody come from?

From Middle English woodi, wody, wodi, equivalent to wood + -y.

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

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