Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

wet behind the ears

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.11 in modern English

Syllables: wet be-hind the ears
IPA

28

Scrabble Score

16

Letters

2

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment).

Example Sentences

"[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."
"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."
"Now, here was the freshly minted FDA commissioner, still wet behind the ears at 39."
""These young whippersnappers are still wet behind the ears.""

Etymology

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.

Inflected Forms

wet-behind-the-ears (alternative)

Synonyms

green behind the ears>>

Antonyms

dry behind the ears

Questions

What does wet behind the ears mean?: Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment).
Where does wet behind the ears come from?: 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.

How to pronounce wet behind the ears

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