tree

See also: tree-, Tree, TREE, and tréë

English
A tree structure

Etymology

From Middle English tre, tree, treo, treou, trew, trow, from Old English trēo, trēow (“tree, wood, timber, beam, log, stake, stick, grove, cross, rood”), from Proto-West Germanic *treu, from Proto-Germanic *trewą (“tree, wood”), from pre-Germanic *dréwom, thematic e-grade derivative of Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”).

Cognates
From the same Proto-Indo-European: Scots tree (“wood, rod, stick”), North Frisian tre, trä (“tree”), Middle Dutch tree > Dutch teer (“tree”), Danish træ (“tree”), Swedish trä (“wood”), träd (“tree”), Norwegian tre (“tree”), Icelandic tré (“tree”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌿 (triu, “tree, wood, piece of wood”), Sanskrit दारु (dāru, “tree, wood”), Albanian dru (“tree, wood”), Welsh dâr (“oaks”), Ancient Greek δόρυ (dóru, “wood, spear”), Russian де́рево (dérevo) or дре́во (drévo), Tocharian A or. Related to tar, true.

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /tɹiː/, [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷɪi̯]
  • (General American) enPR: trē, IPA(key): /tɹi/, [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷi]
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -iː
  • Homophone: three (with th-stopping)

Noun

tree (plural trees or (obsolete) treen)

  1. A perennial woody plant, not exactly defined, but differentiated from a shrub by its larger size (typically over a few meters in height) or growth habit, usually having a single (or few) main axis or trunk unbranched for some distance above the ground and a head of branches and foliage.
    Hyperion is the tallest living tree in the world.
    Birds have a nest in a tree in the garden.
    • 1992 April 5, "The Full House", Jeeves and Wooster, Series 3, Episode 2:
      B. Wooster: Of all the places on this great planet of ours, West Neck, Long Island, has chosen to be the most unexciting. The last time anything remotely interesting happened here was in 1842, when a tree fell over. They still talk about it in the village.
    • 2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 42:
      When we see a train trapped behind (or embedded in) a fallen tree our first thought should be 'what was it doing there anyway?' […] Trees are also responsible for numerous minor delays in autumn [due to leaves falling on the track], which rolling stock engineers are supposed to cope with as usual.
  2. Any plant that is reminiscent of the above but not classified as a tree (in any botanical sense).
    the banana tree
  3. An object made from a tree trunk and having multiple hooks or storage platforms.
    He had the choice of buying a scratching post or a cat tree.
  4. A device used to hold or stretch a shoe open.
    He put a shoe tree in each of his shoes.
  5. The structural frame of a saddle.
  6. (graph theory) A connected graph with no cycles or, if the graph is finite, equivalently a connected graph with n vertices and n−1 edges.
  7. (computing theory) A recursive data structure in which each node has zero or more nodes as children.
  8. (graphical user interface) A display or listing of entries or elements such that there are primary and secondary entries shown, usually linked by drawn lines or by indenting to the right.
    We’ll show it as a tree list.
  9. Any structure or construct having branches representing divergence or possible choices.
    family tree; skill tree
  10. The structure or wooden frame used in the construction of a saddle used in horse riding.
  11. (in the plural, slang) Marijuana.
    • 2005, Eminem and Nate Dogg (lyrics), “Shake That”, in Curtain Call: The Hits:
      I like good pussy and I like good trees / Smoke so much weed you wouldn't believe
    • 2018, “Ace Feat. Smino & Saba”, in Room 25‎, performed by Noname:
      Whiskey with the team, got it bubblin' / I got trees in my luggage, I got tings out in London / Hope UK, what you say? Fuck is you sayin'?
  12. (obsolete) A cross or gallows.
    Tyburn tree
  13. (chemistry) A mass of crystals, aggregated in arborescent forms, obtained by precipitation of a metal from solution.
  14. (cartomancy) The fifth Lenormand card.
  15. (uncountable, mathematics) Alternative letter-case form of TREE.

Synonyms
The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

Hypernyms

Hyponyms
Of the sense “a perennial plant”
  • See also Category:en:Trees
Computing, graph theory, mathematics
Other hyponyms of tree

Meronyms
Of the sense “a perennial plant”

Derived terms
Terms derived from “tree”
Attributive uses of the noun “tree”
Idioms with the word “tree”

Proverbs

Descendants
  • Jamaican Creole: chrii

Translations

See also

Verb

tree (third-person singular simple present trees, present participle treeing, simple past and past participle treed)

  1. (transitive) To chase (an animal or person) up a tree.
    The dog treed the cat.
    • 1897, Henry Howard et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Sport, London: Lawrence & Bullen, Volume I, p. 599,
      When hunted it [the jaguar] takes refuge in trees, and this habit is well known to hunters, who pursue it with dogs and pot it when treed.
    • 2008, Monte Dwyer, Red In The Centre: The Australian Bush Through Urban Eyes, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 146:
      "And our dogs used to tree the cats on our property here, and we'd dispatch them."
  2. (transitive) To place in a tree.
    Black bears can tree their cubs for protection, but grizzly bears cannot.
  3. (transitive) To place upon a tree; to fit with a tree; to stretch upon a tree.
    to tree a boot
    • 1930, Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Chapter 14, p. 165,
      Two suits and an overcoat hung in the closet over three pairs of carefully treed shoes.
  4. (intransitive) To take refuge in a tree.

Translations

References

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch tree, syncopic form of trede, from Middle Dutch trede. Equivalent to a deverbal from treden.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /trɪə̯/

Noun

tree (plural treë)

  1. step (single act of placing the foot when walking)
  2. yard (unit of length)

Dutch

Alternative forms

Etymology

From syncope of trede, from Middle Dutch trede. Equivalent to a deverbal from treden.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /treː/, [treː], [treɪ̯]
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: tree
  • Rhymes: -eː

Noun

tree m (plural treden or treeën or trees, diminutive treetje n)

  1. step (of a staircase), stair
  2. (archaic) step (distance of one step when walking)
  3. (archaic, also tred) a unit of length of about 2 to 3 feet, roughly equivalent to a yard

Derived terms

Descendants

Anagrams

Manx

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Irish trí, from Proto-Celtic *trīs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /t̪riː/

Numeral

tree

  1. three

References

Middle English

Noun

tree

  1. Alternative form of tre

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian thrē.

Numeral

tree

  1. (Heligoland) three
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