Oak vs. Oat — What's the Difference?

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks.

The oat (Avena sativa), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed.

Any of numerous deciduous or evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Quercus, bearing acorns as fruit.

An Old World cereal plant with a loose, branched cluster of florets, cultivated in cool climates and widely used for animal feed.

The hard durable wood of any of these trees or shrubs.

An oat stem used as a musical pipe by shepherds, especially in pastoral or bucolic poetry.

Something made of this wood.

Any of various grasses of the genus Avena, especially A. sativa, widely cultivated for their edible grains.

Any of various trees or shrubs having wood or a leaf shape similar to that of certain oaks.

The grain of any of these plants, used as food and fodder.

Any of various brown shades resembling the wood of an oak in color.

A musical pipe made of an oat straw.

(countable) A deciduous tree with distinctive deeply lobed leaves, acorns, and notably strong wood, typically of England and northeastern North America, included in genus Quercus.

(uncountable) Widely cultivated cereal grass, typically Avena sativa.

(uncountable) The wood of the oak.

(countable) Any of the numerous species, varieties, or cultivars of any of several similar grain plants in genus Avena.

A rich brown colour, like that of oak wood.

The seeds of the oat, a grain, harvested as a food crop.

Any tree of the genus Quercus, in family Fagaceae.

A simple musical pipe made of oat-straw.

Any tree of other genera and species of trees resembling typical oaks of genus Quercus in some ways.

The tiniest amount; a whit or jot.

The she-oaks in Allocasuarina and Casuarina, of family Casuarinaceae

A well-known cereal grass (Avena sativa), and its edible grain, used as food and fodder; - commonly used in the plural and in a collective sense.

Lagunaria, white oak, in family Malvaceae

A musical pipe made of oat straw.

Various species called silky oak, in family Proteaceae

Annual grass of Europe and North Africa; grains used as food and fodder (referred to primarily in the plural: `oats')

Toxicodendron, poison oak, in family Anacardiaceae

Seed of the annual grass Avena sativa (spoken of primarily in the plural as `oats')

Various tanbark oak or stone oak species in family Fagaceae, genera Lithocarpus and Notholithocarpus.

The outer (lockable) door of a set of rooms in a college or similar institution. (Often in the phrase "to sport one's oak").

(wine) The flavor of oak.

Having a rich brown colour, like that of oak wood.

Made of oak wood or timber

To expose to oak in order for the oak to impart its flavors.

Any tree or shrub of the genus Quercus. The oaks have alternate leaves, often variously lobed, and staminate flowers in catkins. The fruit is a smooth nut, called an acorn, which is more or less inclosed in a scaly involucre called the cup or cupule. There are now recognized about three hundred species, of which nearly fifty occur in the United States, the rest in Europe, Asia, and the other parts of North America, a very few barely reaching the northern parts of South America and Africa. Many of the oaks form forest trees of grand proportions and live many centuries. The wood is usually hard and tough, and provided with conspicuous medullary rays, forming the silver grain.

The strong wood or timber of the oak.

The hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for furniture and flooring

A deciduous tree of the genus Quercus; has acorns and lobed leaves;