Johnny-come-lately

English

WOTD – 28 January 2007

Alternative forms

• johnny-come-lately, Jonny-come-lately (rarer)

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌdʒɒni.kʌmˈleɪtli/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌdʒɑːni.kʌmˈleɪtli/

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• Audio (AU)

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Noun

Johnny-come-lately (plural Johnny-come-latelies or Johnnies-come-lately)

1. (idiomatic, also attributive) A newcomer; a novice; an upstart.

   Synonyms: greenhorn, newcomer, novice; see also Thesaurus:newcomer, Thesaurus:beginner

   She might take offense if some Johnny-come-lately thinks he can do a better job.

   • 1963 [1961], Fannie Hurst, God Must Be Sad, New York: Pocket Books, page 79:

     Morris now shared financial decisions with a woman, a female Johnny-come-lately. Imagine the eventuality of Morris's share of their fortune ever falling into such Johnny-come-lately hands. God forbid!

   • 2005 September 10, Martin Jacques, “Great leaps and bounds”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     In a field increasingly populated with Johnnies-come-lately, Gittings is a Johnny-come-early: one only has to read this book to feel the depth and span of his knowledge.

   • 2014 August 21, Mike Pender, “Food safety too crucial to be left to johnny-come-lately ministers”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     The government should give the agency its independence back so that it can get on with the task of protecting consumers in relation to food without political interference from johnny-come-lately ministers.

   • 2018, E. Khayyat, Istanbul 1940 and Global Modernity, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 213:

     All these Johnny-come-latelies typically come out as irreverent, vulgar or immature and childlike.

Translations

newcomer

• Finnish: keltanokka (fi), märkäkorva
• Polish: nowicjusz (pl) m, nowicjuszka (pl) f, żółtodziób (pl) m
• Portuguese: novato (pt) m, recém-chegado m
• Spanish: novato (es) m, novata (es) f
• Swedish: uppkomling (sv) c

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “johnny-come-lately n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang