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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.

Examples of wooden in a Sentence

The guest speaker was wooden and uninspiring. a movie with wooden dialogue

Recent Examples on the Web That wooden structure will soar to 284 feet above the Milwaukee city streets, taking the crown as the world's tallest, a mere four feet higher than Mjøstårnet. — Bernhard Warner, Fortune, 10 May 2022 Kaş also offers diving, gület (traditional wooden boat) tours and even the chance to go overseas. — Lisa Morrow, CNN, 25 Apr. 2022 His wooden boat is naggingly familiar to anyone from northern Europe: high, pinched bow and stern; as slippery as a fish. — James Stewart, Robb Report, 23 Apr. 2022 Across the street in the vast parking lot of what used to be a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, several wooden pallets await the arrival of tons of goods and medical supplies that will be shipped to Ukraine. — Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2022 Earlier this month, a wooden boat carrying hundreds of migrants grounded in shallow water off Key Largo, and 163 people swam ashore near the Ocean Reef Club. — Danica Cotto And Freida Frisara, orlandosentinel.com, 15 Mar. 2022 Earlier this month, a wooden boat carrying hundreds of migrants grounded in shallow water off Key Largo, and 163 people swam ashore near the Ocean Reef Club. — Danica Coto, sun-sentinel.com, 15 Mar. 2022 Meanwhile, the price of wooden pallets was tripling. — New York Times, 14 Mar. 2022 The move was so above-board that the administration sent an unmarked cargo plane to Tehran, filled with wooden pallets stacked with euros, Swiss francs, and other currencies. — David Harsanyi, National Review, 7 Mar. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wooden.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.