yew¹

[yoo] /yu/

noun

any of several evergreen, coniferous trees and shrubs of the genera Taxus and Torreya, constituting the family Taxaceae, of the Old World, North America, and Japan, having needlelike or scalelike foliage and seeds enclosed in a fleshy aril.

the fine-grained, elastic wood of any of these trees.

an archer's bow made of this wood.

this tree or its branches as a symbol of sorrow, death, or resurrection.

Origin

before 900; Middle English ew(e), Old English ēow, ī(o)w; cognate with Old High German īga, īwa (Middle High German īwe, German Eibe), Old Norse ýr, MIr eó yew (Old Irish: stem, shaft), Welsh ywen yew tree, Russian íva willow

yew²

[yoo; unstressed yoo] /yu; unstressed yʊ/

pronoun, Eye Dialect.

you.

British Dictionary definitions for yew

yew

/juː/

noun

any coniferous tree of the genus Taxus, of the Old World and North America, esp T. baccata, having flattened needle-like leaves, fine-grained elastic wood, and solitary seeds with a red waxy aril resembling berries: family Taxaceae

the wood of any of these trees, used to make bows for archery

(archery) a bow made of yew

Word Origin

Old English īw; related to Old High German īwa, Old Norse ӯr yew, Latin ūva grape, Russian iva willow

Word Origin and History for yew

Old English iw, eow "yew," from Proto-Germanic *iwa-/*iwo- (cf. Middle Dutch iwe, Dutch ijf, Old High German iwa, German Eibe, Old Norse yr), from PIE *ei-wo- (cf. Old Irish eo, Welsh ywen "yew"), perhaps a suffixed form of *ei- "reddish, motley, yellow." OED says French if, Spanish iva, Medieval Latin ivus are from Germanic (and says Dutch ijf is from French); others posit a Gaulish ivos as the source of these. Lithuanian jeva likewise is said to be from Germanic. The tree symbolizes both death and immortality, being poisonous as well as long-lived.