See wet behind the ears in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for wet behind the ears meaning in English (6.7kB)
{
"antonyms": [
{
"word": "dry behind the ears"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "de",
"3": "feucht hinter den Ohren",
"nocap": "1"
},
"expansion": "calque of German feucht hinter den Ohren",
"name": "calque"
}
],
"etymology_text": "c. 1850, Pennsylvania, calque of German feucht hinter den Ohren.\nFrom the drying of amniotic fluid on a baby after birth, specifically a new-born farm animal, which last dries behind the ears (partly because licked dry by mother everywhere else). Alternative forms also from German.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "adjective"
},
"expansion": "wet behind the ears",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Cantonese terms with redundant transliterations",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant transliterations",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant transliterations",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment)."
],
"id": "en-wet_behind_the_ears-en-adj-8gH42fdC",
"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"
},
{
"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": "hu",
"english": "someone having green ears",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "zöldfülű"
},
{
"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"
},
{
"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": "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"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-wet behind the ears.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1f/En-au-wet_behind_the_ears.ogg/En-au-wet_behind_the_ears.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/En-au-wet_behind_the_ears.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "wet behind the ears"
}
{
"antonyms": [
{
"word": "dry behind the ears"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "de",
"3": "feucht hinter den Ohren",
"nocap": "1"
},
"expansion": "calque of German feucht hinter den Ohren",
"name": "calque"
}
],
"etymology_text": "c. 1850, Pennsylvania, calque of German feucht hinter den Ohren.\nFrom the drying of amniotic fluid on a baby after birth, specifically a new-born farm animal, which last dries behind the ears (partly because licked dry by mother everywhere else). Alternative forms also from German.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "adjective"
},
"expansion": "wet behind the ears",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"Cantonese terms with redundant transliterations",
"English adjectives",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English terms calqued from German",
"English terms derived from German",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with quotations",
"Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations"
],
"examples": [
{
"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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"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)."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-wet behind the ears.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1f/En-au-wet_behind_the_ears.ogg/En-au-wet_behind_the_ears.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/En-au-wet_behind_the_ears.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "green behind the ears"
},
{
"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": "hu",
"english": "someone having green ears",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "inexperienced, not seasoned",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "zöldfülű"
},
{
"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"
},
{
"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": "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"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). 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.