Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Wootz
Wootz
(woōts)
, Noun.
[Perhaps a corruption of Canarese
ukku
steel.] A species of steel imported from the East Indies, valued for making edge tools; Indian steel. It has in combination a minute portion of alumina and silica.
Definition 2024
wootz
wootz
English
Noun
wootz (countable and uncountable, plural wootzes)
- A famous type of steel from India, much admired for making sword blades.
- 1863, The celebrated wootz or steel of India, made in little cakes of only about two pounds weight, possesses qualities which no European steel can surpass. — Industrial Biography, Samuel Smiles, 1963.
- 1884, The word first appears in 'Experiments and Observations to investigate the Nature of a Kind of Steel manufactured at Bombay, and there called Wootz,' ... By G. Pearson, M.D. (paper read before the Royal Soc., June 11, 1795). — Robert F. Burton, The Book of the Sword, page 110.
Usage notes
In earlier usage it appears as simply wootz (see quotations), later being referred to as wootz steel