A hard, heavy wood, yellowish-brown and often getting darker with age, from a tall tree that grows in South and Southeast Asia — India, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia. It holds a natural oil, which is why water and insects damage it far less than other woods, and that is why it was used for ships' decks and is still used for garden furniture, boats and good indoor furniture. It is expensive, and "teak" in an advertisement is meant to sound solid and lasting. The word works as a noun ("made of teak") and stands in front of another noun like an adjective ("a teak table", "teak doors"). It also names the tree itself. Because so much old-growth teak has been cut, real teak is now controlled and sometimes illegally logged — you may meet the word in that kind of news story too.