How to say "wood" in Japanese

• 林はやしJLPT N4approx.Common
  nounCovers 'wood(s)' as a place: an area of standing trees, a grove or woodland you might walk through. It is about the trees as scenery or a location, never wood as a material.
  林はやしに竹たけが目立めだつ。↗

  Bamboo stands out in the woods.
• ウッドCommon
  nounThe borrowed English word, used mainly in loanword settings such as golf clubs; seldom the word you want for wood as a material — for that, 木材 is the natural choice.
• 木材もくざいJLPT N2approx.Common
  nounWood as a material: the general word for the substance furniture and buildings are made of. When you mean wood as a stuff you buy or work with, this is the word you want.
  この古ふるい家いえは木材もくざいでできている。↗

  This old house is made of wood.
• 材木ざいもくJLPT N2approx.Common
  nounWood in the sense of lumber or timber for building — processed stock sold as beams and planks. Narrower than 木材, it fits when construction material, not wood in general, is meant.
  ひろしは材木ざいもくをひいて板いたにしています。↗

  Hiroshi is sawing the wood into boards.
• 木きJLPT N5approx.Common
  nounFirst of all the word for a tree; when it means 'wood' it is the material in a general sense. For wood as a substance or commodity, 木材 is the more precise choice.

For wood as a place covered with trees use 林; for the material use 木材, or 材木 when it is lumber for building; 木 is chiefly a tree, and 「ウッド」 is a loanword used in borrowed contexts.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 林はやしwood
• ウッドwood
• 木材もくざいlumber
• 材木ざいもくwood (for building)
• 材ざいwood
• 用木ようぼくtimber
• 木きwood
• 木もくwood (first of the five elements)
• 身みmain part