The woods/ forest

Question

I would like to know what's the difference between those two words.

I read that "woods" were forests that have been worked by men, but I wanna make sure

In English " wood " may be used in various ways it is the fibrous material in a tree. A table made from "wood" . An area smaller than a forest covered in trees. - ray76, Mar 13, 2016

Your description is wrong , a wood may or not have been worked , it makes no difference . - ray76, Mar 13, 2016

Please try not to use terms like "wanna" we have members learning English , thanks mate. - ray76, Mar 13, 2016

Answer 1

As Ray says a copse (or a spinney) is a small number of trees or a wood.

Wood is the substance a trees trunk and branches are made from.

Wood is a group of trees. If the group of trees is a very large area it can be called a forest eg there is a large wooded area in Germany called the Black Forest.

In my country there is an area in the South of England called the New Forest.

A very large area is known as a forest but everything else is a wood. You could say I went for a walk in the woods when you go into a forest and that would be OK but if it was a small wood it would sound odd to call it a forest.

Usually a forest is planted more densely ie less light.

We refer to a rainforest or a tropical forest. not wood.

Incidentally the Americans say: ' I couldn't see the forest for the trees' meaning you missed the point because you were concentrating on the detail'

In the UK we say: ' I couldn't see the wood for the trees' Maybe that is because the UK is a small country with lots of woods whereas the USA has many forests.

We also say touch wood (often touching our head) when we have just mentioned something lucky and want to avoid bad luck.

In the USA they say 'knock on wood'

I don't know which ones the Australians use.

The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary is good and some words have illustrations you can click on with pictures with named areas eg wood/copse/ forest

Definition of forest

Gracias amiga. - ian-hill, Mar 13, 2016

Thanks - fernand2017, Mar 13, 2016

De nada - Mardle, Mar 13, 2016

Answer 2

Words related to forest.

a piece of wood / un trozo de madera

We went to the woods. / Fuimos al bosque.

Answer 3

Woods or wood can mean the same thing as forest according to some definitions.

thanks. It could be, because in films, is more usual to hear "woods" instead of "forest" - fernand2017, Mar 13, 2016

In los estados, cuando era un niño, se llamó "forest y woods" el mismo. Gracias. - 00cc0117, Mar 13, 2016

Por favor, corrigen la español si es necessario. - 00cc0117, Mar 13, 2016

Gracias por el voto amigo. - 00cc0117, Mar 13, 2016

Except David ,you would not refer to a "Copse " as a forest but a wood, A forest usually covers a very large area. We have forests larger than European Nations. - ray76, Mar 13, 2016

I did not know this Ray, I would very much like to visit Australia some day. - 00cc0117, Mar 13, 2016

Also until now I have not heard of the word "copse" it is not used around here. - 00cc0117, Mar 13, 2016

I learned to use the word "thicket" instead. - 00cc0117, Mar 13, 2016

Apart from regional differences, several dictionaries describe "woods"and "forrest"in general as being the same thing in general. - 00cc0117, Mar 13, 2016

Fernand lives in the Americas, so I assumed that he would also be interested in the United States. - 00cc0117, Mar 13, 2016

As far as I know, here we only use the term "forest" when in reference to a national forest. - 00cc0117, Mar 13, 2016