scarlet oak

noun

The tree Quercus coccinea.

Similar
Quercus coccinea

Meanings

nounscarlet oak (plural scarlet oaks)

plural scarlet oaks

  1. The tree Quercus coccinea.

    One of the finest scarlet oaks in England is at the Duke of Wellington's seat at Strathfieldsaye.

    1834, The New Monthly Magazine, volume 40, page 122
    2 more examples

    Seed production in scarlet oaks varies greatly from year to year; occasionally the trees produce bumper crops. Scarlet oak is a member of the red oak group, all of whose acorns are invested with bitter-tasting tannin compounds, likely evolved to deter mammals from eating too many of them.

    2002, Charles Fergus, Trees of Pennsylvania and the Northeast, page 118

    Whereas numbers of trees and basal areas of all species increased between 1957 and 1972, the 1972—1977 timber harvest reduced the number of large black and scarlet oaks proportionately more than other species.

    2009, Paul S. Johnson, Stephen R. Shifley, Robert Rogers, The Ecology and Silviculture of Oaks, 2nd edition, page 245

Synonyms & antonyms

nounmedium-large deciduous tree with a thick trunk found in the eastern United States and southern Canada and having close-grained wood and deeply seven-lobed leaves turning scarlet in autumn

Similar
Quercus coccinea

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From the colour of its leaves in autumn.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

scarlet oak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scarlet%20oak

MLA

“scarlet oak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scarlet%20oak. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scarlet oak,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scarlet%20oak.

Source: scarlet oak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.