wood or wooden

[phoebemia]

• The house was surrounded by a tall, wooden fence.
• Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon.

Since both wood and wooden can be used as adjectives, can I say 'wood fence', 'wood spoon', in the above sentences?

 

[jutfrank]

No.

When something is made of wood, we usually use the adjective modifier wooden, not the noun modifier wood. This is somewhat irregular, since we can regularly use the nouns metal, plastic, paper, etc. as modifiers.

a metal spoon
a plastic spoon
a paper spoon

a wood spoon
a wooden spoon

 

[phoebemia]

No.

When something is made of wood, we usually use the adjective modifier wooden, not the noun modifier wood. This is somewhat irregular, since we can regularly use the nouns metal, plastic, paper, etc. as modifiers.

a metal spoon
a plastic spoon
a paper spoon

a wood spoon
a wooden spoon

I saw the following sentences and am still confused about the usage of wood and wooden.

• Solid wood furniture is sturdy and durable.
• We sanded and polished the wood floor in the living room.

 

[5jj]

Don't worry about it - there are no firm rules. If you always use 'wooden' for the adjective, your Engish will be natural nearly all the time. 'Wooden' would have been acceptable in your two examples in post #3.