yew

Meanings

Noun

• A species of coniferous tree, Taxus baccata, with dark-green flat needle-like leaves and seeds bearing red arils, native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia.
• Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.
• Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus
• The wood of the such trees.
• A bow for archery, made of yew wood.

Adjective

• Made from the wood of the yew tree.

Origin

• From Middle English ew, from Old English īw, ēow, from Proto-Germanic *īwaz, *īhwaz (compare Icelandic yr), masculine variant of *īwō (compare Dutch ijf, German Eibe), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHweh₂.
• See also Hittite ("type of evergreen"), Welsh yw ("yews"), Irish sga [both cognates of Old English īw, Old English ēow]; and Latgalian īva ("bird cherry"), Lithuanian ievà ("bird cherry"), Russian и́ва ("willow").