wanwood

W4A1N1W4O1O1D2
UK/ˌwɒnˈwʊd/

noun

A pale or withered forest; a ghostly wood, implying decay or melancholy.

Scrabble 14
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Meanings

nounwanwood (uncountable)
  1. poeticuncountableA pale or withered forest; a ghostly wood, implying decay or melancholy.

    Áh! ás the heart grows older / It will come to such sights colder / By and by, nor spare a sigh / Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie; […]

    1880, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Spring and Fall: To a Young Child”, in Robert Bridges, editor, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Now First Published […], London: Humphrey Milford, published 1918, →OCLC, page 51

Origin

From wan + wood.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

“wanwood.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wanwood. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wanwood,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wanwood.

Source: wanwood on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.