Definition

Noun: 1. A type of wood: A reddish-brown wood, specifically the heartwood of the sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua), valued for its color and grain and used in making furniture and cabinetry.

Usage Examples

• The antique desk was crafted from beautiful, richly grained hazelwood.
• The carpenter selected a piece of hazelwood for the cabinet doors because of its warm, reddish hue.
• This lumber is not from a hazel tree; it is hazelwood, which comes from the sweet gum.

Advanced Usage

• As a modifier: The term can be used attributively to describe items made from this wood.
  • The hazelwood veneer gave the table an elegant finish.

Variants and Related Words

• Sweet gum wood: A more general term for lumber from the tree, which includes both the sapwood and the reddish heartwood marketed as hazelwood.
• Satin walnut: Another name sometimes used for this same type of wood, referring to its appearance.

Synonyms

• Red gum (heartwood)
• Satin walnut

Notes on Meaning

It is important to distinguish this term from the literal "wood of a hazel tree." In commercial lumber and furniture-making contexts, hazelwood specifically denotes the reddish heartwood of the sweet gum tree, not the wood from trees of the genus Corylus (hazel).

Noun

1. reddish-brown wood and lumber from heartwood of the sweet gum tree used to make furniture