Ents, also known as tree-folk, are a fictional species of sentient beings in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world Middle-earth that closely resemble trees. Introduced in The Lord of the Rings in 1954, they are similar to talking trees found in folklore around the world. Their name is derived from the Old English ent or eoten, meaning "giant." Tolkien borrowed the word from a phrase in the Anglo-Saxon poems The Ruin and Maxims II, orþanc enta geweorc ("cunning work of giants").
Ents vary widely in height, heft, coloring and digits. They are strong enough to tear apart rock and stone "like bread-crust," but are still vulnerable to fire and axes. Ents are patient and cautious, with a sense of time more suited to trees than to short-lived mortals.
Ent-like creatures appear in countless other forms of media, such as Dungeons & Dragons; due to copyright infringement issues, they are usually referred to as "treants."
