willow.
Any of various deciduous trees or shrubs in the genus Salix, in the willow family Salicaceae, found primarily on moist soils in cooler zones in the northern hemisphere.
Meaning & usage
Any of various deciduous trees or shrubs in the genus Salix, in the willow family Salicaceae, found primarily on moist soils in cooler zones in the northern hemisphere.
The wood of these trees.
A cricket bat.
The baseball bat.
A rotating spiked drum used to open and clean cotton heads.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English wilwe, welew, variant of wilghe, from Old English weliġ, from Proto-West Germanic *wilig, from Proto-Germanic *wiligaz, from Proto-Indo-European *welik- (compare (Arcadian) Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), Hittite 𒌑𒂖𒆪 (welku, “grass”)), from *wel- (“twist, turn”). Cognate to West Frisian wylch and more distantly (via Proto-West Germanic *wilgijā) to Dutch wilg and German Wilge.
To open and cleanse (cotton, flax, wool, etc.) by means of a willow.
To form a shape or move in a way similar to the long, slender branches of a willow.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English wilwe, welew, variant of wilghe, from Old English weliġ, from Proto-West Germanic *wilig, from Proto-Germanic *wiligaz, from Proto-Indo-European *welik- (compare (Arcadian) Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), Hittite 𒌑𒂖𒆪 (welku, “grass”)), from *wel- (“twist, turn”). Cognate to West Frisian wylch and more distantly (via Proto-West Germanic *wilgijā) to Dutch wilg and German Wilge.
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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.