In Genesis, Noah is instructed to build the ark from gopher wood.
Genesis 6:14 uses the Hebrew phrase translated in many English Bibles as “gopher wood.” The exact identity of this wood is unknown, making the phrase a translation rather than a securely identified botanical species. Some translations retain “gopherwood,” while others use wording such as “cypress wood.”
The ark’s construction instructions also mention rooms, a coating of pitch, and an opening or window. These details belong to the biblical flood narrative, in which Noah’s family and selected animals survive a divinely sent flood.
A common mix-up is treating gopher wood as a known tree species. No surviving consensus identifies it, and the word appears only in this passage of the Hebrew Bible.