bois

Bois is the French word for wood or forest. In everyday usage, le bois denotes a material (timber) or a small wooded area; les bois denotes a woodlot or forests collectively. The term has long been used in place names and in family names.

Toponymy: The element bois appears in many French place names and geographic descriptors. Examples include Bois-Colombes, a suburb of Paris, and le bois de Boulogne, a large forest on the western edge of the city. In other Francophone regions, similar formations are common, reflecting historic or present wooded landscapes.

Surname: Bois is a surname of French origin. It is found in France and in other parts of the world where French influence has been strong, with bearers in various professional fields. Surnames derived from natural features like woods or forests are a common pattern in French onomastics.

In culture and industry: The word is widely used in forestry, carpentry, and design to refer to timber and wooded materials. It also appears in expressions describing landscapes, natural areas, and architectural contexts that emphasize wood or wooded spaces.

See also: Related terms in other Romance languages for forest or woods include bosque in Spanish and bosco in Italian, reflecting shared historical roots for woodland concepts.