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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

burl.

A tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner; a burr knot.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/bɝl/General-American/bɜːl/Received-Pronunciation
  1. A tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner; a burr knot.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Wood of a mottled veneer, usually cut from such a growth.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A knot or lump in thread or cloth.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English burle (“a knot or flaw in cloth”), from Old French bourle (“flocks or ends of threads which disfigure cloth”), diminutive of Old French bourre, from Medieval Latin burra (“flock of wool, coarse hair”).

verb/bɝl/General-American/bɜːl/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To remove the knots in cloth.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English burle (“a knot or flaw in cloth”), from Old French bourle (“flocks or ends of threads which disfigure cloth”), diminutive of Old French bourre, from Medieval Latin burra (“flock of wool, coarse hair”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.