callow

English

Etymology

From Middle English calwe (“bald”), from Old English calu (“bald”), from Proto-Germanic *kalwaz (“bare, naked, bald”), from Proto-Indo-European *gAlw- (“naked, bald”). Cognate with Dutch kaal (“bald”), German kahl (“bald”), Russian голый (gólyj, “nude”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: [ˈkæloʊ]
• Rhymes: -æləʊ

Adjective

callow (comparative callower or more callow, superlative callowest or most callow)

1. (obsolete) Bald.
2. Unfledged (of a young bird).
3. Immature, lacking in life experience.

   Those three young men are particularly “callow youths”.

4. Lacking color or firmness (of some kinds of insects or other arthropods, such as spiders, just after ecdysis). Teneral.
5. Shallow or weak-willed.
6. Unburnt (of a brick)

Translations

Bald

Bulgarian: плешив (bg) Czech: plešatý (cs) French: chauve (fr)

German: kahl (de) Italian: calvo (it) m., calvi (it) pl.

Unfledged

Bulgarian: неоперен (bg) German: ungefiedert

Russian: неоперившийся

Immature, lacking in life experience

Bulgarian: неопитен (bg) German: unerfahren, unreif, grün

Mandarin: 没经年 (cmn) (has no years of experience) Russian: незрелый (ru), неопытный (ru)

Lacking color

Shallow or weak-willed

Noun

callow (countable and uncountable; plural callows)

1. A callow young bird.
2. A callow phase of an insect or other arthropod.

Anagrams

• low-cal