☼ Concept Map

''aspen'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260313192153-00-⌔

aspen - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Adjective

aspen (comparative more aspen, superlative most aspen)

  • Pertaining to the asp or aspen tree.
  • (obsolete) Tremulous, trembling.
    • ✤ And then poore Aspen wretch, neglected thou/Bath’d in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lye/A veryer ghost than I […].1
  • (obsolete) Of a woman’s tongue: wagging, gossiping.

Noun

aspen (plural aspens)

  • A poplar tree, especially of section Populus sect. Populus, of medium-size trees with thin, straight trunks of a greenish-white color.
    • ✤ Above a certain elevation, the aspens gave way to scrubby, gnarled pines.
    • ✤ ſtaggering like a quiuering Aſpen leafe,
      Fearing the force of Boreas boiſtrous blaſts.      2
    • ✤ Instead there were the white of aspens, streaks of branch and slender trunk glistening from the green of leaves […].3
    • ✤ The beloved aspen forests that shimmer across mountainsides of the American West could be doomed if emissions of greenhouse gases continue at a high level, scientists warned on Monday. […] The new paper analyzed the drought and heat that killed millions of aspens in Colorado and nearby states a decade ago.4
  • (uncountable) The wood of such a tree; usually pale, lightweight and soft.
    • ✤ She claimed that aspen was the only “proper” material from which to make a wicker basket.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈæspən/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Etymology 1

From Middle English aspen, corresponding to asp +‎ -en.

Etymology 2

From Middle English aspen, from Old English æspen, Old English æspan (combining form), from Old English æspe (“aspen”). More at asp.

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “The Apparition”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC: ↩

  2. c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv: ↩

  3. 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC: ↩

  4. 2015 March 30, Justin Gillis, “Climate Change Threatens to Kill Off More Aspen Forests by 2050s, Scientists Say”, in The New York Times ‎, archived from the original on 12 November 2020: ↩