“Gopher wood” is the Hebrew term Genesis uses for the Ark's timber, but scholars cannot identify its exact tree species with certainty. The expression appears only in Genesis 6:14, leaving no second biblical usage to clarify it.
Ancient and modern translators have proposed cypress, resinous wood, or other durable timber. Some English Bibles transliterate the word as gopher, while others render it descriptively. Because the source term is unique, confident claims that it definitely names one modern species are unsupported.
Genesis does provide a separate construction clue: Noah coated the Ark with pitch inside and outside. This waterproofing instruction is clearer than the wood's identity. The linguistic uncertainty illustrates why ancient textual terms sometimes resist precise scientific translation, even when the surrounding narrative is well known.