See wet behind the ears on Wiktionary
{
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"3": "feucht hinter den Ohren",
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"name": "calque"
}
],
"etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1850 in Pennsylvania, a calque of German feucht hinter den Ohren. From the drying of amniotic fluid of a baby after birth, specifically a newborn farm animal, whose ears are the last to dry, partly because it is licked dry by its mother everywhere else. Alternative forms also derive from German.",
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"expansion": "wet behind the ears",
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"pos": "adj",
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{
"word": "dry behind the ears"
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"examples": [
{
"text": ","
},
{
"ref": "1903 August 2, “The Boy Whose Parents Wanted Him to Be Useful”, in Chicago Tribune, retrieved 2010-10-05, page B2:",
"text": "[They would put] their hands behind their ears and pat the top of their heads to taunt me with the fact that I was still wet behind the ears and soft on top of the head.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1950 January 13, Roger Appleton, “Police to End Teen-Age Gambling: Strike at Pool Hall Hangouts”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 2010-10-05, page 18:",
"text": "Every week day, pool rooms are filled with scores of boys still \"wet behind the ears\" who have no business anywhere but in the classroom.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1991 July 15, Dick Thompson, “The Man with the Plan”, in Time:",
"text": "Now, here was the freshly minted FDA commissioner, still wet behind the ears at 39.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2004 September 8, Jarrett Bell, “Bengals' Kitna 'classy' about losing job to Palmer”, in USA Today, retrieved 2010-10-05:",
"text": "\"These young whippersnappers are still wet behind the ears.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment)."
],
"id": "en-wet_behind_the_ears-en-adj-8gH42fdC",
"links": [
[
"Inexperienced",
"inexperienced"
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[
"beginning",
"beginning"
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[
"immature",
"immature"
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[
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"judgment"
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"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment)."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "green behind the ears"
},
{
"word": "wet-behind-the-ears"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "s žǎlto okolo ustata",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "с жълто около устата"
},
{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "乳臭未乾"
},
{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"roman": "jyu⁵ cau³ mei⁶ gon¹",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "乳臭未干"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "乳臭未乾"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "rǔxiùwèigān",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "乳臭未干"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "shàobùgēngshìde, shàobùjīngshìde",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "少不更事的"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "nat achter de oren"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "kokematon"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"noun"
],
"word": "märkäkorva"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "green behind the ears",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "grün hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "still being green behind the ears",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "noch grün hinter den Ohren sein"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"note": "not dry behind the ears",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "nicht trocken hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"note": "not yet dry behind the ears",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "noch nicht trocken hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "wet behind the ears",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "feucht hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "still wet behind the ears",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "noch feucht hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"note": "ακόμη δε βγήκε απ' τ' αβγό (akómi de vgíke ap' t' avgó, literally “not yet come out of the egg”)",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"phrase"
]
},
{
"code": "hu",
"english": "someone having green ears",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "zöldfülű"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "tejfölösszájú"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "kezdő"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "tapasztalatlan"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "óharðnaður"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "óreyndur"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "alle prime armi"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "muovere i primi passi"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "essere un novellino"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "di primo pelo"
},
{
"alt": "しりがあおい, けつがあおい, shiri ga aoi, ketsu ga aoi",
"code": "ja",
"english": "(to have a) blue butt",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "尻が青い"
},
{
"code": "lv",
"lang": "Latvian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "vēl slapjš aiz ausīm"
},
{
"code": "nv",
"lang": "Navajo",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "chąąmąʼii ádílʼį́"
},
{
"code": "no",
"lang": "Norwegian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "våt bak ørene"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "mieć mleko pod nosem"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"english": "the milk has not dried on the lips",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "molokó na gubáx ne obsóxlo",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "молоко́ на губа́х не обсо́хло"
},
{
"code": "vi",
"lang": "Vietnamese",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "chân ướt chân ráo"
}
]
}
],
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{
"audio": "En-au-wet behind the ears.ogg",
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],
"word": "wet behind the ears"
}
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"name": "calque"
}
],
"etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1850 in Pennsylvania, a calque of German feucht hinter den Ohren. From the drying of amniotic fluid of a baby after birth, specifically a newborn farm animal, whose ears are the last to dry, partly because it is licked dry by its mother everywhere else. Alternative forms also derive from German.",
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"args": {
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"2": "adjective"
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"expansion": "wet behind the ears",
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"antonyms": [
{
"word": "dry behind the ears"
}
],
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"Terms with Japanese translations",
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"examples": [
{
"text": ","
},
{
"ref": "1903 August 2, “The Boy Whose Parents Wanted Him to Be Useful”, in Chicago Tribune, retrieved 2010-10-05, page B2:",
"text": "[They would put] their hands behind their ears and pat the top of their heads to taunt me with the fact that I was still wet behind the ears and soft on top of the head.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1950 January 13, Roger Appleton, “Police to End Teen-Age Gambling: Strike at Pool Hall Hangouts”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 2010-10-05, page 18:",
"text": "Every week day, pool rooms are filled with scores of boys still \"wet behind the ears\" who have no business anywhere but in the classroom.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1991 July 15, Dick Thompson, “The Man with the Plan”, in Time:",
"text": "Now, here was the freshly minted FDA commissioner, still wet behind the ears at 39.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2004 September 8, Jarrett Bell, “Bengals' Kitna 'classy' about losing job to Palmer”, in USA Today, retrieved 2010-10-05:",
"text": "\"These young whippersnappers are still wet behind the ears.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment)."
],
"links": [
[
"Inexperienced",
"inexperienced"
],
[
"beginning",
"beginning"
],
[
"immature",
"immature"
],
[
"judgment",
"judgment"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment)."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "green behind the ears"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
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"synonyms": [
{
"word": "wet-behind-the-ears"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "s žǎlto okolo ustata",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "с жълто около устата"
},
{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "乳臭未乾"
},
{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"roman": "jyu⁵ cau³ mei⁶ gon¹",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "乳臭未干"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "乳臭未乾"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "rǔxiùwèigān",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "乳臭未干"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "shàobùgēngshìde, shàobùjīngshìde",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "少不更事的"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "nat achter de oren"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "kokematon"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"noun"
],
"word": "märkäkorva"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "green behind the ears",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "grün hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "still being green behind the ears",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "noch grün hinter den Ohren sein"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"note": "not dry behind the ears",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "nicht trocken hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"note": "not yet dry behind the ears",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "noch nicht trocken hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "wet behind the ears",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "feucht hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "still wet behind the ears",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "noch feucht hinter den Ohren"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"note": "ακόμη δε βγήκε απ' τ' αβγό (akómi de vgíke ap' t' avgó, literally “not yet come out of the egg”)",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"phrase"
]
},
{
"code": "hu",
"english": "someone having green ears",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "zöldfülű"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "tejfölösszájú"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "kezdő"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "tapasztalatlan"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "óharðnaður"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "óreyndur"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "alle prime armi"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "muovere i primi passi"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "essere un novellino"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "di primo pelo"
},
{
"alt": "しりがあおい, けつがあおい, shiri ga aoi, ketsu ga aoi",
"code": "ja",
"english": "(to have a) blue butt",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "尻が青い"
},
{
"code": "lv",
"lang": "Latvian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "vēl slapjš aiz ausīm"
},
{
"code": "nv",
"lang": "Navajo",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "chąąmąʼii ádílʼį́"
},
{
"code": "no",
"lang": "Norwegian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "våt bak ørene"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "mieć mleko pod nosem"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"english": "the milk has not dried on the lips",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "molokó na gubáx ne obsóxlo",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "молоко́ на губа́х не обсо́хло"
},
{
"code": "vi",
"lang": "Vietnamese",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"word": "chân ướt chân ráo"
}
],
"word": "wet behind the ears"
}
Download raw JSONL data for wet behind the ears meaning in All languages combined (7.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.