Tigerwood hardwoods get their name from the wood's orange color; the stripes and colors running through the wood grain give it a tiger-like look. Tigerwood originates in Latin America, mainly from Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Beyond flooring, Tigerwood's uses include boat building, fine furniture, paneling, plywood, and shutters.

The sapwood of tigerwood is brownish-white to dirty gray, while the heartwood is reddish-brown to light golden-brown in color. The species has a mottled, wavy or interlocked, irregular grain. Tigerwood has a medium to dull luster and is fine in texture. Tigerwood is a highly durable wood with a high resistance to beetle attack. The wood remains dimensionally stable and is reported to have no odor. Tigerwood is time consuming to dry properly while preventing degrade.

As a flooring option, tigerwood is one of the harder and more durable woods. It falls between hickory or pecan and purpleheart in hardness, is nearly ninety-six percent as hard as merbau, is a little over twenty-seven percent harder than hard maple, and is about eighty-four percent as hard as santos mahogany's ranking of 2200.

See additional hardwood flooring types.