Talk:tree

Is it also homophone when it's almost the same sound? Or is there a special term for that? - Polyglot 2003.05.18

• IMHO two words can only be called homophones if they sound the same or at least almost the same way, but it's not the case. The "th" in "three" should be pronounced like "þ" (the letter called thorn present in Icelandic and in some old European languages), which is a bit different from the usual "t" sound. hybrid-2k 2003.10.23

Pronunciation

Isn't this word pronounced more as /tʃɹiː/? I have never in my life heard anyone -- American, English, Australian, Scotish, Irish, or African -- use the pronunciation /tɹiː/ 69.182.168.27 13:40, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Here in Texas, where we speak a rather conservative English, I say /tɹiː/. The pronunciation /tʃɹiː/ would be easily understood, but I haven’t noticed that anyone actually uses it. —Stephen 01:05, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia says it is a voiceless postalveolar (or more rarely alveolar) NON-sibilant affricate based on Gimson (2014), pp. 177, 186–188 and 192. if this is true, shouldn't it be written as [t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔ʷiː] and [t͡ɹ̝̊ʷiː]. Jackpaulryan (talk) 23:43, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

I'm here from the future! I say it like /tʃɹiː/! I also say /tʃɹeɪn/! Great Mercian (talk) 19:03, 24 June 2023 (UTC)

eee...e?

If tree can be used as a verb like this, wouldn't the dog be the treeer and the cat the treeee? Teh Rote 20:13, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes, but I believe people would probably spell them tree-er and tree-ee. I don’t think three or more letters in a row would be acceptable. —Stephen 20:17, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Really? What about goddessship, headmistressship, agreeeth, wallless, and aaa that I read about on Wikipedia? Meh, I guess that's English for you. Teh Rote 20:26, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

That’s probably British English. In American English, we write headmistress-ship, wall-less, etc. —Stephen 20:32, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

I have never heard that, despite being an American. Thanks for the info. Teh Rote 20:38, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that’s how they are listed in the Random House Dictionary. —Stephen 20:51, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

(A decade later) You have to realise that all the words you have quoted there are incredibly rare, and possibly nonstandard. Things like goddessship always turn up in lists of weird spellings, but you don't tend to see them in real books etc. Having said that: skweee is one of my favourites. Equinox ◑ 04:27, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Video games' skill trees, etc.

Glossary of video game terms mentions various "trees", which I quote here, and which may or may not be "sums of parts", given our current sense 9 ("Any structure or construct having branches representing divergence or possible choices"):

• dialog tree (dialogue tree?) / conversation tree: Found primarily in adventure games, a means of providing a menu of dialog choices to the player when interacting with a non-player character so as to learn more from that character, influence the character's actions, and otherwise progress the game's story. The tree nature comes from typically having multiple branching levels of questions and replies that can be explored.
• technology tree / tech tree: A branching series of technologies that can be researched in strategy games, to customize the player's faction.
• skill tree: A character-development gaming mechanic typically seen in role-playing games. A skill tree consists of a series of skills (sometimes known as perks) which can be earned as the player levels up or otherwise progresses their player-character. These skills grant gameplay benefits; for example, giving the character the ability to perform a new action, or giving a boost to one of the character's stats. A skill tree is called a "tree" because it uses a tiered system and typically branches out into multiple paths. […] (See article for more.)

Equinox ◑ 04:32, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Possible missing sense: a cudgel

Chambers 1908 also defines tree as a cudgel. Obsolete maybe? Equinox ◑ 12:57, 14 March 2020 (UTC)