Tree: Meaning, Examples, and Common Collocations

Meaning 1：tree (tree)

tree 🔊

/triː/

A large plant with a hard, wooden trunk, branches, and leaves.

tree 🔊

➕

/triː/

A perennial woody plant with a single main trunk, branches, and leaves, typically growing to a considerable height.

📁 Category：Natural Geography 🔖 Level：beginner

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From Old English trēow, from Proto-Germanic *trewą; akin to Old High German triu, Gothic triu.

💡 Mnemonic

T-R-E-E: Tall Roots Extend Everywhere, anchoring the plant deep in the earth.

📖 Example

The children had a picnic under the shade of a giant oak tree. 🔊 The children had a picnic under the shade of a giant oak tree.

🔗 Collocations

climb a tree – ascend a tree using hands and feet

tree trunk – the main woody stem of a tree

family tree – a diagram showing the relationships between members of a family over generations

🔄 Synonyms

woody plant (n.) – a plant with a hard stem that lives for many years

sapling (n.) – a young tree with a slender trunk

timber tree (n.) – a tree grown for its wood used in construction

🚫 Antonyms

shrub (n.) – a low-growing woody plant with multiple stems

herb (n.) – a non-woody plant that dies back to the ground each year

🌱 Derivatives

treetop (n.) – the highest part of a tree

treehouse (n.) – a structure built among the branches of a tree

treeless (adj.) – having no trees

📖 Cultural Story

The word 'tree' shares etymology with 'true' (trustworthy) as wood was used for writing runes and legal contracts. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the cosmic tree linking worlds.