>> Danish, for instance, does not have a word for “wood”; it just uses “tree” (trae). > Danish does have a word for wood...it's just the same as the word for t

>> Danish, for instance, does not have a word for “wood”; it just uses “tree” (trae). > Danish does have a word for wood...it's just the same as the word for tree. This is like saying English is weird because we say "he likes to fish" and "he eats fish" (or "he fishes" and "the fishes are swimming"). Fish is a noun and a verb, how weird! No, it's not weird at all, though it proves that context is important in understanding (no kidding). Usually the same word is used for wood and tree, but we do have the word "ved", which refers specifically to the woody part of a plant, not the entirety of it. So you would call it "kerneved" for heartwood and "splintved" for sapwood. It's not really in common everyday use, but very commonly used in the forestry and woodworking trades.