wooden

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈwʊd.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English wood + -en, the adjective suffix of material as in golden and woollen.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Made of wood: 1538 in the OED, the 1530s in Etymonline.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Lacking grace, liveliness or expression is from before 1566,^[4] and stiff, ungainly or clumsy by the 1560s in Etymonline.^[2] Of persons, mentally dull or insensitive is from before 1586,^[4] and poor or worthless from 1592.^[4] Belonging to the woods, sylvan, was a rare sense of 1606.^[4] The wooden nickel, a type of something worthless, is American English by 1892.^[2] The wooden spoon is a booby prize, originally a wooden spoon presented to the candidate who came last.^[3]

Timeline

• 1538 – made of wood.^[4]
• 1560s – stiff, clumsy.^[2]
• before 1566 – expressionless.^[4]
• before 1586 – dull-witted.^[4]
• 1892 – wooden nickel.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Made of wood.
2. Stiff and without life or expression: a wooden performance.
3. Clumsy and awkward.
4. Dull in sound; not resonant: a wooden thud.

Word family

• woodenly
• woodenness
• wooden-headed
• woodenhead
• woodenware

Related words

• wood
• woody
• wooded

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press