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bois

French, noun/bwa/

bois is spelled B-O-I-S (4 letters) and appears 141 times per million words in written French, the 579th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bois is a French masculine noun meaning “wood (substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/second-person singular present indicative of boire. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Substance dure et fibreuse des arbres”.

What does bois mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    masculinewood (substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree)

  2. 2

    masculinewood (wood of a particular species of tree)

  3. 3

    masculinewood, woodland (forested or wooded area)

  4. 4

    masculineantler (branching and bony structure on the head of deer, moose and elk, normally in pairs)

  5. 5

    masculinewoodwind instrument, woodwind

  6. 6

    masculinewooden engraving, woodcut

  7. 7

    masculinewood (type of club)

  8. 8

    datedmasculinehull

verb

  1. 1

    first/second-person singular present indicative

  2. 2

    second-person singular present imperative

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Substance dure et fibreuse des arbres. 2. Objet construit dans cette matière. 3. Ensemble d’arbres assez proches, délimité par une lisière. 4. Famille d’instruments à vent de matières très variées (bois, métal, plastique, terre cuite, os, ivoire, cristal, etc.) et dont le son n'est pas produit par la vibration des lèvres de l'instrumentiste, et comprenant : Les flûtes (vibration de l’air sur un biseau) Les hautbois (vibration d’une anche double) Les clarinettes (vibration d'une anche simple)

The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.

Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

How do you pronounce bois?

  • /bwa/
  • /bwɑ/
  • \bwɑ\

Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.

English words that translate to bois

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is bois in French?

bois appears 141 times per million words in written French.

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

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