Brushwood
/ˈbrʌʃ.wʊd/noun
Small branches, twigs, and undergrowth cut for fuel or clearing.
Did you know?Its first element, brush, is tied to a thorny, scruffy plant sense from Old French and ultimately Latin, while wood comes from the ancient Germanic word for forest material, making the whole word a blunt name for tangled fuel.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*wed-
“to be wet, water”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*widuz
“tree, wood”
Old English
OE
wudu
“wood, forest, tree”
Old French
OF
broce
“brush, thicket, undergrowth”
Middle English
ME
brushwode
“brushwood, brush or twigs used as fuel”
Modern English
English
brushwood
“small branches, twigs, and undergrowth cut for fuel or clearing”