Etymologically
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wooden

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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

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