spruce
Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found…Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.
» Tom told me he often drinks root beer, but he'd not only never drunk spruce beer, he'd never even heard of it.
Meaning
4 senses(countable, uncountable)Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.
Fichte
ельjelʹ, ёлкаjólka
яли́цяjalýcja, смере́каsmeréka, яли́наjalýna
any coniferous tree of the genus Picea
(uncountable)The wood of a spruce.
Fichtenholz
ельjelʹ
light soft moderately strong wood of spruce trees; used especially for timbers and millwork
(attributive, countable, uncountable)Made of the wood of the spruce.
That spruce table is beautiful!
ело́выйjelóvyj
(countable, obsolete, uncountable)Prussian leather; pruce.
Examples
26 sentencesTom told me he often drinks root beer, but he'd not only never drunk spruce beer, he'd never even heard of it.
"What kind of wood is that?" "It's spruce."
ru"Что это за древесина?" - "Это ёлка".
de„Was ist denn das für ein Holz?“ – „Das ist Fichte.“
Do you like spruce beer?
Тобі подобається ялинкове пиво?
deMagst du Fichtenbier?
Some spruces are bark-beetle infested.
deManche Fichten haben Borkenkäfer.
Claudio didn't carry the spruce tree alone.
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 2
By meaning 2
Origin
From Middle English Spruce, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from Medieval Latin, fromFrom Middle English Spruce, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from Medieval Latin, from a Baltic language, probably Old Prussian; for more, see Prussia. Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) were terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (beer, wood, leather). The tree with this name was also believed to have been native to Prussia. The adjective and verb senses ("trim, neat" and "to make trim, neat") are attested from 1594, and originate with spruce leather (1466), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: spruces / spruceWord family
23 related wordsLessons for this word
2 lessons- A1Plural nouns — Because its plural is irregular
- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable