rookie

English

Etymology

Thought to be an alteration of recruit +‎ -ie, or from rook (“a cheat”) +‎ -ie. Another possible origin is Dutch broekie (short for broekvent (“a boy still in short trousers”)), a common term for a shipmate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹʊki/
• Rhymes: -ʊki

Noun

rookie (plural rookies)

1. An inexperienced recruit, especially in the police or armed forces.
2. A novice.
3. An athlete either new to the sport or to a team or in his first year of professional competition, especially said of baseball, basketball, hockey and American football players.
4. (Britain) A type of firecracker, used by farmers to scare rooks.

Synonyms

• beginner
• newbie, new boy
• noob
• tyro
• novice
• See also Thesaurus:beginner

Translations

an inexperienced recruit

• Bulgarian: новобранец m (novobránec)
• Czech: bažant (cs)
• Dutch: schacht (nl) m
• French: bleu (fr) m
• German: Frischling (de) m
• Italian: recluta (it)

• Macedonian: гуштер m (gúšter)
• Portuguese: novato (pt) m
• Russian: сала́га (ru) m, f (salága), новобра́нец (ru) m (novobránec)
• Spanish: novato (es) m
• Turkish: çaylak (tr)

a novice

• Bulgarian: новак (bg) m (nóvak)
• Czech: zelenáč
• Dutch: beginneling (nl) m, nieuwkomer (nl) m
• Finnish: aloittelija (fi), noviisi (fi), keltanokka (fi)
• French: bleu (fr) m
• German: Anfänger (de) m, Neuling (de) m

• Italian: principiante (it)
• Macedonian: новајлија m (novájlija), новак m (nóvak)
• Portuguese: principiante (pt) m, f
• Russian: новичо́к (ru) m (novičók), (green) зелёный (ru) m (zeljónyj)
• Spanish: novato (es), novicio m
• Turkish: çaylak (tr)

Adjective

rookie (comparative rookier, superlative rookiest)

1. non-professional; amateur

   The game was going well until I made that rookie mistake.

   the rookiest of rookie mistakes

Translations

amateur — see amateur

See also

• naive
• rooky (homophone)

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Spanish

Noun

rookie m, f (plural rookies)

1. rookie