wet behind the ears

See also: wet-behind-the-ears

English

Alternative forms

• green behind the ears, wet-behind-the-ears

Etymology

c. 1850, Pennsylvania, calque from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] German feucht hinter den Ohren.

From 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). German variants (still wet behind the ears, not yet dry behind the ears, green behind the ears) also borrowed.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Adjective

wet behind the ears

1. (idiomatic) Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment).
   • 1903, "The Boy Whose Parents Wanted Him to Be Useful," Chicago Tribune, 2 Aug., p. B2 (retrieved 5 Oct 2010):

     [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.

   • 1950, Roger Appleton, "Police to End Teen-Age Gambling: Strike at Pool Hall Hangouts," Ottawa Citizen (Canada), 13 Jan., p. 18 (retrieved 5 Oct 2010):

     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.

   • 1991, Dick Thompson, "The Man with the Plan," Time, 15 July:

     Now, here was the freshly minted FDA commissioner, still wet behind the ears at 39.

   • 2004, Jarrett Bell, "Bengals' Kitna 'classy' about losing job to Palmer," USA Today, 8 Sept. (retrieved 5 Oct 2010):

     "These young whippersnappers are still wet behind the ears."

Usage notes

• This expression is usually hyphenated when placed before the noun it modifies.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:naive

Antonyms

• dry behind the ears

Translations

inexperienced, not seasoned

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 乳臭未乾／乳臭未干 (jyu⁵ cau³ mei⁶ gon¹), 乳臭未干 (jyu⁵cau³mei⁶gon¹)

  Mandarin: 乳臭未乾／乳臭未干 (zh) (rǔxiùwèigān), 乳臭未干 (zh) (rǔxiùwèigān)

• Dutch: nat achter de oren
• Finnish: märkäkorva
• German: grün hinter den Ohren (green behind the ears), noch grün hinter den Ohren sein (de) (still being green behind the ears), nicht trocken hinter den Ohren (not dry behind the ears), noch nicht trocken hinter den Ohren (not yet dry behind the ears), feucht hinter den Ohren (wet behind the ears), noch feucht hinter den Ohren (still wet behind the ears)
• Hungarian: zöldfülű (hu) c (someone having green ears)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: óharðnaður m, óreyndur m
• Italian: alle prime armi, muovere i primi passi, essere un novellino
• Japanese: 尻が青い (しりがあおい, けつがあおい, shiri ga aoi, ketsu ga aoi) ((to have a) blue butt)
• Navajo: chąąmąʼii ádílʼį́
• Norwegian: våt bak ørene
• Russian: молоко́ на губа́х не обсо́хло (ru) (molokó na gubáx ne obsóxlo) (the milk has not dried on the lips)