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Humans have been making objects out of wood since before there even was an English language, but the adjectival use of "wood" didn't come into being until the 14th century, and "wooden" didn't appear until the 16th. (The word wood has ancient roots, but it originally existed only as a noun.) In Middle English, the adjective of choice was "tree" or "treen," as in a "tree vessel" or "treen shoes." "Treen" in turn came from the Old English word trēowen, from the noun "trēow" ("tree") and the suffix -en, which was used to indicate that something was composed of a certain material. As far as we know, no one ever used "treen" figuratively to describe things that are stiff as a board, but "wooden" was put to broader use soon after it was first recorded.
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Examples of wooden in a Sentence
Allie Volpe, Vox, 19 Nov. 2024
From wooden garden pergolas, paper marigolds hung above the performers’ feather headdresses.
—Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, The Denver Post, 16 Nov. 2024
The Japan Times reported that the letters were carved into a wooden pillar of a traditional entrance, known as a torii gate, at the Meiji Shrine.
—Arata Yamamoto, NBC News, 14 Nov. 2024
The pagoda is filled with precious statues, including a wooden Shakyamuni Buddha covered with gold paint.
—Catherine Garcia, theweek, 11 Nov. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near wooden
Cite this Entry
“Wooden.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wooden. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
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