# willow
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English wilwe, welew, variant of wilghe, from Old English welig, from Proto-West Germanic *wilig, from Proto-Germanic *wiligaz, from Proto-Indo-European *welik- (compare (Arcadian) Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), Hittite 𒌑𒂖𒆪 (welku, “grass”)), from *wel- (“twist, turn”).

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈwɪl.əʊ/
* Rhymes: -ɪləʊ
* (US) IPA: /ˈwɪloʊ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪloʊ

### Noun

willow (countable and uncountable, plural willows)
* Any of various deciduous trees or shrubs in the genus Salix, in the willow family Salicaceae, found primarily on moist soils in cooler zones in the northern hemisphere.
** 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:[…] and through the middle of this forest, from wall to wall, ran a winding line of brilliant green which marked the course of cottonwoods and willows.
** 1917, Edward Thomas, “Adlestrop”, in Poems, London: Selwyn & Blount, page 40:And willows, willow-herb, and grass, / And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, / No whit less still and lonely fair / Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
** 1983 December 3, J. R., “Isak Dinesen, The Life of a Storyteller (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 20, page 10:By old age she was emaciated, the bones jutting out of her face and her figure frail as a willow branch.
* The wood of these trees.
* (cricket, colloquial) A cricket bat.
* (baseball, slang, 1800s) The baseball bat.
* A rotating spiked drum used to open and clean cotton heads.

#### Synonyms

* withy

#### Derived terms

* almond willow
* arctic willow
* Australian willow
* Babylon willow
* balsam willow
* basket willow
* bay willow
* Bedford willow
* black willow
* crack willow
* desert willow
* downy willow
* French willow
* goat willow
* Huntingdon willow
* Kennicott's willow warbler
* least willow
* Newton-le-Willows
* peachleaf willow
* Peking willow
* polar willow
* primrose-willow
* pussy-willow
* pussy willow
* Red Willow County
* Red Willow Creek
* sageleaf willow
* sea-willow
* sea willow
* strip the willow
* tea-leaved willow
* undergreen willow
* Walsham le Willows
* water willow
* weeping willow
* white willow
* Willow Canyon
* willow fly
* willow goldfinch
* willow grouse
* willowherb
* willow in the wind
* willow-leaved justicia
* willow oak
* willow ptarmigan
* willow ragwort
* willow tit
* willow tree
* willow warbler
* willow-weed
* willow-wort
* willow wren
* wolf willow

#### Translations

Abkhaz: аԥслыш (apsləŝ)
Adyghe: пцелы (pcelə)
Afrikaans: wilg, wilger, wilgerboom
Ainu: スス (susu)
Akkadian: 𒄑𒁍 ($^{GIŠ}$BU /⁠ḫilēpu⁠/), 𒄑𒊮𒆗 ($^{GIŠ}$ŠAG$_4$.KAL /⁠šakkullu⁠/)
Albanian: shelg (sq) m
Amharic: አኻያ (ʾäxaya)
Arabic: صَفْصَاف m (ṣafṣāf), غَرَب (ar) m (ḡarab), خِلَاف m (ḵilāf)
Egyptian Arabic: صفصاف m (ṣafṣāf)
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܥܱܪܒܬ݂ܴܐ f (ʿarbṯā), ܗܶܠܴܦܴܐ m (ḥellāp̄ā)
Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: עַרְבְּתָא f (ʿarbṯā), חִילָּפָא m (ḥellāp̄ā)
Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: ערבְתא f (/⁠*ʿarəbṯā⁠/)
Arapaho: yookox
Armenian: ուռենի (hy) (uṙeni), ուռի (hy) (uṙi)
Aromanian: saltsi f, saltse f
Asturian: salce m, salgueru m
Azerbaijani: söyüd (az)
Baluchi: please add this translation if you can
Bashkir: тал (tal)
Basque: sahats
Bavarian: Felbern
Belarusian: вярба f (vjarba)
Bouyei: waixlux
Breton: haleg (br)
Bulgarian: върба (bg) f (vǎrba)
Burmese: မိုးမခ (my) (mui:ma.hka.)
Cahuilla: sáxat
Catalan: salze (ca) m
Chechen: дак (dak)
Cherokee: ᏕᎴᎦᎵᏍ (delegalis), ᏗᎵᎦᎵᏍᎩ (diligalisgi)
Cheyenne: ménó'ke
Chinese:
Cantonese: 柳 (lau$^5$), 柳樹 / 柳树 (lau$^5$ syu$^6$)
Hokkien: 柳 (liú)
Mandarin: 柳 (zh) (liǔ), 柳樹 / 柳树 (zh) (liǔshù)
Wu: 柳 ($^6$lieu)
Cornish: helygen f
Cree: ᓃᐱᓰᕀ (niipisiiy)
Crimean Tatar: tal
Czech: vrba (cs) f
Dakota: chąthúhu
Danish: pil c, piletræ n
Dutch: wilg (nl) m
Eastern Mari: уа (ua)
Egyptian: (ṯrt f)
Coptic:
Bohairic: ⲑⲱⲣⲓ (thōri)
Sahidic: ⲧⲱⲣⲉ (tōre)
Erzya: каль (kaľ)
Esperanto: saliko (eo)
Estonian: paju, remmelgas (et)
Even: хят (hẹt)
Faroese: pílur m, pílatræ n
Finnish: paju (fi)
Franco-Provençal: sôge m
French: saule (fr) m
Frisian:
West Frisian: wylch c, wylgebeam c
Friulian: venčhâr m, molec m, vencjâr m
Galician: salgueiro (gl) m, xalce m, vimieiro (gl) m, vimbieiro m, sarga f, trogalleiro m
Georgian: ტირიფი (ka) (ṭiripi)
German: Weide (de) f, Weidenbaum (de) m
Greek: ιτιά (el) f (itiá)
Ancient: ἰτέα f (itéa), ἑλίκη f (helíkē)
Mycenaean: 𐀁𐀪𐀏 (e-ri-ka)
Hawaiian: wīlou
Hebrew: עֲרָבָה (he) f (ʿărāḇā́), צַפְצָפָה (he) f (ṣap̄ṣāp̄á)
Hopi: qahavi
Hungarian: fűzfa (hu), fűz (hu)
Icelandic: víðir (is) m
Ido: saliko (io)
Indonesian: dedalu (id)
Ingrian: paju
Interlingua: salice
Inupiaq: uqpik
Irish: saileach f, sail (ga) f, saileog f
Italian: salice (it) m, salcio m
Japanese: 柳 (ja) (ヤナギ, yanagi)
Karachay-Balkar: тал (tal)
Karelian: paju
Kazakh: кызыл тал (kyzyl tal)
Khakas: тал (tal)
Khmer: ដើមសូល (daəm sool)
Kiliwa: ijáau
Klamath-Modoc: yaas
Komi-Permyak: бадь (baď)
Komi-Zyrian: бадь (baď)
Korean: 버들 (ko) (beodeul), 버드나무 (ko) (beodeunamu)
Kumyk: тал (tal)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: بی (bî)
Northern Kurdish: bî (ku) f
Kyrgyz: тал (ky) (tal)
Lak: щавщи (š:awš:i)
Latgalian: veituls m
Latin: salix f
Latvian: vītols m
Lezgi: цӏвелин ттар (c̣velin t̄ar)
Ligurian: sàrxo m (Genoese)
Lithuanian: gluosnis m
Low German: Wied f
Lower Tanana: kʼwyʼ
Luxembourgish: Weid f
Macedonian: врба (mk) f (vrba)
Manchu: ᡶᠣᡩᠣᡥᠣ (fodoho)
Manx: shellagh f
Maori: whiro, wirou
Marathi: वाळुंज f or m (vāḷuñja)
Mazanderani: فک (fek)
Mezquital Otomi: xits'o
Middle English: salow, wylow
Moksha: каль (kaľ), иса (isa)
Mongolian: уд мод (ud mod), бургас мод (burgas mod)
Nahuatl: huexotl (nah), wexotl, uexotl (nah)
Central Huasteca Nahuatl: uexotl
Western Huasteca Nahuatl: uexotl
Classical Nahuatl: huexotl
Navajo: kʼaiʼ
Neapolitan: salece m
Northern Khanty: њорщи (njorsji)
Northern Mansi: тыпйив (typjiv)
Norwegian: vier (no) m, vierslekt m, viere pl
Occitan: sause (oc) m, salze (oc) m, sauce (oc) m (Gascon), assaleç (oc) m (Limousin)
Ojibwe: oziisigobiminzh
Old Church Slavonic: врьбиѥ n (vrĭbije) (collective), връба f (vrŭba)
Old English: wīþiġ m
Old Prussian: apīwitwa
Omaha-Ponca: thíxe
Ossetian: хӕрис (xæris)
Pashto: وله f (wala)
Persian: بید (fa) (bid)
Polabian: varbă f
Polish: wierzba (pl) f
Portuguese: salgueiro (pt) m
Purepecha: tarhemu
Quechua: sawsi, wayaw
Romanian: salcie (ro) f
Russian: и́ва (ru) f (íva), ве́рба (ru) f (vérba)
Sami:
Inari Sami: sieđgâ
Lule Sami: siergga
Northern Sami: sieđga
Southern Sami: sïerke
Sardinian: sabixi, saighi, sagili, saliche
Scottish Gaelic: seileach m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: врба f
Roman: vrba (sh) f
Seri: paaij
Sicilian: sàlici (scn) m
Silesian: wiyrba f
Slovak: vŕba (sk) f
Slovene: vrba (sl) f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: wjerba f
Upper Sorbian: wjerba f
Southern Altai: тал (tal)
Spanish: sauce (es) m, mimbrera f, sauz (es) m
Sumerian: 𒄑𒊮𒆗 ($^{GIŠ}$ŠAG$_4$.KAL /⁠šagkal⁠/)
Swahili: mwerebi sg, mierebi pl
Swedish: pil (sv) c, vide (sv)
Tagalog: sawse
Taos: íałoną
Tatar: тал (tt) (tal)
Telugu: ఒక విధమైన చెట్టు (oka vidhamaina ceṭṭu)
Thai: หลิว (th) (lǐu)
Tibetan: ལྕང་མ (lcang ma)
Tübatulabal: ha·l
Turkish: söğüt (tr)
Turkmen: söwüt
Tuvan: тал (tal)
Udi: соьйуьд (söjüd)
Udmurt: бадь (baď), бадьпу (baďpu)
Ukrainian: верба́ (uk) f (verbá)
Uzbek: tol (uz)
Venetan: salgaro (vec) m
Veps: raid
Vietnamese: liễu (vi)
Vilamovian: wajd f
Volapük: salig (vo)
Walloon: så (wa) f
Welsh: helygen f
West Flemish: wulge
Xhosa: umngcunube class 3/4
Yakut: үөт (üöt), талах (talaq)
Yiddish: ווערבע f (verbe)
Yurok: pahkʷoˀ
Zazaki: viyale (diq) f
Zhuang: goliux :

### Verb

willow (third-person singular simple present willows, present participle willowing, simple past and past participle willowed)
* (transitive) To open and cleanse (cotton, flax, wool, etc.) by means of a willow.
* (intransitive) To form a shape or move in a way similar to the long, slender branches of a willow.
** 1928, Robert Byron, “Gardenias and Sweetpeas”, in The Station: Athos: Treasures and Men, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, page 175:Willowing over the rough cobbles of the little pier stepped a thin, bent figure, adorned with a silver nanny-goat's beard and bobbling eyes interrupted by the rim of a pair of pince-nez.
** 1930, Talbot Mundy, chapter 7, in Black Light‎:Joe’s impulse was to sketch her, with her shadow willowing beyond her on the mouse-gray paving-stone; but his left fist, obeying instinct, remained clenched behind his back […]
** 1985, Martin Booth, Hiroshima Joe, New York: Picador, page 394:It was floating a foot under the surface. The eyes were holes. The mouth was a slit cavern of darkness. The hair willowed around the scalp.
** 2013, Dean Koontz, Wilderness‎, Bantam Books:The draft-drawn smoke willowed down through the hole and across my face, but I didn’t worry about coughing or sneezing.