wooden
/ˈwʊdn̩/adjective
wooden is spelled W-O-O-D-E-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,076th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, wooden means “Made of wood” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in wooden?
| Letters | 6: W-O-O-D-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 21 times per million words; the 4,076th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is wooden?
Wooden appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,076th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce wooden?
- US /ˈwʊdn̩/
- British /ˈwɵdn̩/
- /ˈwʉdn̩/
Wooden has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-wooden.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of wooden
- more wooden comparative
- most wooden superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wooden mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Made of wood.
a wooden boat
- 2
As if made of wood; moving awkwardly, or speaking with dull lack of emotion.
wooden acting
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wooden in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | boisé, en bois , raide |
| German | hölzern, Holz- |
| Portuguese | lenhoso, de madeira |
| Spanish | de madera , acartonado |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does wooden come from?
From wood + -en. Dates from 1530s, gradually replaced treen (“made from a tree”), from Middle English treen, from Old English triewen.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).