maple

See also: Maple

English

WOTD – 1 July 2026
A maple tree (Acer campestre, known more specifically as the common maple, field maple, or hedge maple, in Warsaw, Poland.
A striped maple tree (Acer pensylvanicum in Århus, Denmark.
The leaf of a sugar maple (Acer saccharum in autumn. Maple syrup is chiefly made from the sap of this tree.
A piece of maple wood (etymology 1, noun sense 3)
Dry seeds of the maple pea, also known as the field pea (Pisum sativum subsp. arvense).

Etymology 1

    The noun is derived from Middle English mapel (“tree of species Acer campestre, sole native maple of the British Isles); wood of such a tree; artistic representation of a maple leaf; a beam, pole, stake (?)”),[1] from Old English *mapul (attested in mapulder (“maple tree”),[2] mapultrēow (“maple tree”),[3] etc.),[4] from Proto-West Germanic *mapul (“maple tree”), from Proto-Germanic *mapulaz; further etymology uncertain, possibly from *masuraz (“type of wood with spots or veins, such as maple or walnut”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mos- (“skin sore”)) + *aplaz (“apple; fruit”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl (“apple; apple tree”)).

    The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.

    cognates

    Pronunciation

    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmeɪpl̩/, [ˈmeɪp(ə)ɫ̩]
    • (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈmeɪp(ə)l/
    • Audio (California):(file)
    • (Australia, New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈmæɪpəl/, [ˈmæɪp(ə)ɫ̩]
    • (India) IPA(key): /meːpɘl/, [ˈmeːp(ɘ)l]
    • Rhymes: -eɪpəl
    • Hyphenation: ma‧ple

    Noun

    maple (countable and uncountable, plural maples)

    1. Any member of any species of genus Acer, characterized by (usually) palmate, five-lobed leaves and winged seeds, and often grown for syrup or wood
      Russian maple
      They have a large maple in their yard.
      1. (countable, UK) A small tree (Acer campestre), known as the common maple, field maple, or hedge maple, which has palmate leaves with five lobes and winged seeds, and is chiefly native to East Asia, Europe, North Africa, and North America.
        • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 9, page 5:
          The vvarlike Beech, the Aſh for nothing ill, / The fruitfull Oliue, and the Plataine round, / The caruer Holme, the Maple ſeeldom invvard ſound.
        • 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of the Maple Tree”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book III, page 1299:
          The great Maple is a beautifull and high tree, vvith a barke of a meane ſmoothnes: the ſubſtance of the vvoode is tender and eaſie to vvorke on it; it ſendeth foorth on euery ſide very many goodly boughes and branches, vvhich make an excellent ſhadovv againſt the heate of the ſunne; […] There is a ſmall Maple vvhich doth oftentimes come to the bignes of a tree, but moſt commonly it grovveth lovv after the maner of a ſhrub, the barke heereof is likevviſe ſmooth; […]
      3. (countable) Often preceded by a descriptive word: a tree of the genus Acer; especially the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) native to North America which has brightly colored autumn foliage and is the primary source of maple syrup.
    2. (countable) Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a tree of a genus other than Acer which has an appearance or wood similar to an Acer tree.
      Queensland maple
    4. (uncountable) Wood of an Acer tree, valued for its attractive appearance and hardness; also, similar wood from a tree of a genus other than Acer; (countable) a particular type of such wood.
      This table is made of maple and also has some fruitwood inlays.
    5. (uncountable) The light-brown color of the wood of a maple tree (etymology 1 sense 3).
      maple:  
    6. (uncountable) The flavor of maple syrup made from the sap of a maple tree, or an imitation of that flavor.
      What flavour is your ice-cream? Mine’s maple—it’s delicious.
    8. (countable) Short for maple pea (“the field pea (Pisum sativum subsp. arvense) which has brown, speckled seeds used dry rather than fresh; a seed of this plant”).
    Hyponyms
    Acer genus trees
    non-Acer genus trees


    Derived terms
    Descendants
    • → Kashubian: majpél (Canada, US)
    • → Portuguese: meiple
    Translations

    Adjective

    maple (not comparable)

    1. Of the light-brown colour of the wood of a maple tree (etymology 1, noun sense 3).
    2. Of the flavour of, or made with, maple syrup.
    Translations

    Etymology 2

    A mapau or red matipo (Myrsine australis), formerly sometimes called a maple, in Auckland Botanic Gardens, Auckland, New Zealand.

    A variant of mapau, influenced by maple (etymology 1).[7]

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    maple (plural maples)

    1. (New Zealand, archaic) Synonym of mapau (“any of several trees of New Zealand, especially in the genus Myrsine”).
      • 1967, Robert McLatchie, Kathleen Keene, Tang of the Bush: The Story of Robert McLatchie, 1875–1963, as Told to His Daughter, Kathleen Keene […], 2nd edition, Invercargill, New Zealand: […] Copy Services, →OCLC, page 34:
        The maples – red, white and black – were there, and ribbonwood or lace bark; while rata, or 'Ironwood', so called because of its hardness, made a splash of crimson in summertime.
    Translations

    References

    1. ^ “māpel, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
    2. ^ Joseph Bosworth (1882), “mapulder”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 671, column 1.
    3. ^ Joseph Bosworth (1882), “mapul-treów”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 671, column 1.
    4. ^ “maple, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2026; “maple, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
    5. ^ Francis A. Wood (January 1914), “Germanic Etymologies”, in John M[atthews] Manly, editor, Modern Philology, volume XI, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 1.
    6. ^ Friedrich Kluge, Elmar Seebold, with the assistance of Max Bürgisser and Bernd Gregor (1989), “Maser”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language], 22nd edition, Berlin; New York, N.Y.: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 464, column 2.
    7. ^ “maple, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025.

    Further reading

    Anagrams

    Middle English

    Noun

    maple

    1. alternative form of mapel

    Spanish

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈmaple/ [ˈma.ple]
    • Rhymes: -aple
    • Syllabification: ma‧ple

    Noun

    maple m (plural maples)

    1. (Mexico) maple syrup
    2. (Mexico) a maple tree
    3. an egg carton
      Synonym: huevera

    Further reading

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