noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The wood nearer the heart of a stem or branch, different in color from the sapwood. countable, uncountable

   "A popular myth is that heartwood is stronger than sapwood."

2. 2
   the older inactive central wood of a tree or woody plant; usually darker and denser than the surrounding sapwood wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

duramen

Antonyms

All antonyms

sapwood

Example

More examples

"A popular myth is that heartwood is stronger than sapwood."

Etymology

From heart + wood.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.