木材是能够次级生长的植物，如乔木和灌木，所形成的木质化组织。是多孔纤维状的组织。乔木和灌木在初生生长结束后，根茎中的维管形成层开始活动，向外发展出韧皮，向内发展出木材。木材是维管形成层向内的发展出植物组织的统称，包括木质部和木质线。

木材为林业主产物，对于人类生活起着很大的支持作用。根据木材不同的性质特征，人们将它们用于不同途径，例如燃料及建筑用的材料。木材是天然的有机复合材料，由有纤维素纤维（抗拉性很强）和木质素的基质（抗压性强）组成。一般木材定义为茎部二次生长的木质部。

地球上约有一兆英吨的木材，每年约增加一千万吨。木材的蕴藏量大，且是碳中性的可再生材料，是颇受关注的可再生能源之一。在1991年约生产了三百五十万立方米的木材，主要用途是家具及建筑结构。

Lumber (American English; timber in Australian English, British English, Hiberno-English, and New Zealand English) is wood that has been processed into beams and planks, a stage in the process of wood production.

Lumber may be supplied either rough-sawn, or surfaced on one or more of its faces. Besides pulpwood, rough lumber is the raw material for furniture-making and other items requiring additional cutting and shaping. It is available in many species, usually hardwoods; but it is also readily available in softwoods, such as white pine and red pine, because of their low cost. Finished lumber is supplied in standard sizes, mostly for the construction industry—primarily softwood, from coniferous species, including pine, fir and spruce (collectively spruce-pine-fir), cedar, and hemlock, but also some hardwood, for high-grade flooring.