wooden spoon

English

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “why figurative uses?”)

IPA^(key): /ˈwʊdən spuːn/

wooden spoon (plural wooden spoons)

A spoon made from wood, commonly used in food preparation.
(idiomatic) An ironic prize for finishing last in a competition.
(Cambridge University slang, dated) The last junior optime who takes a university degree.
- 1843, Thomas Macaulay, Sir James Mackintosh's History of the Revolution
  We submit that a wooden spoon of our day would not be justified in calling Galileo and Napier blockheads because they never heard of the differential calculus.
(US, university slang, dated) The lowest appointee of the junior year; sometimes, one especially popular in his class, without reference to scholarship. Formerly, it was a custom for classmates to present to this person a wooden spoon with formal ceremonies.

spoon made from wood

Chinese:
Cantonese: 木羹 (muk⁶ gang¹)
Mandarin: 木勺 (mùsháo)
Czech: vařečka (cs) f
Danish: træske c
Dutch: houten lepel m, pollepel (nl)
Finnish: kapusta (fi), puukauha (fi)
French: cuillère en bois (fr) f
German: Kochlöffel (de) m, Holzlöffel (de) m
Hungarian: fakanál (hu)
Italian: cucchiaio di legno m, mestolo di legno m
Japanese: 杓文字 (しゃもじ, shamoji)
Norman: tchulyi en bouais f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tresleiv m or f
Nynorsk: tresleiv f
Polish: drewniana łyżka f, kopyść (pl) f
Portuguese: colher de pau f
Russian: деревя́нная ло́жка f (derevjánnaja lóžka) (for eating, Russian musical instrument or souvenir); меси́лка (ru) f (mesílka), меша́лка (ru) f (mešálka), весёлка (ru) f (vesjólka) (for cooking)
Scottish Gaelic: spàin-fhiodha f
Serbo-Croatian: kuhača (sh) f
Cyrillic: варјача f, мешаја f, мешајица f
Roman: varjača (sh) f, mešaja f, mešejica f
Slovene: varjača f
Spanish: cuchara de madera f
Swedish: träsked (sv) c
Ukrainian: копи́стка f (kopýstka)
West Frisian: spoen

prize for coming last in a competition