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 of 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). Alternative forms also from German.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

wet behind the ears

1. (idiomatic) Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment).
   • 1903 August 2, “The Boy Whose Parents Wanted Him to Be Useful”, in Chicago Tribune, retrieved 5 October 2010, page B2:

     [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 January 13, Roger Appleton, “Police to End Teen-Age Gambling: Strike at Pool Hall Hangouts”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 5 October 2010, page 18:

     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 July 15, Dick Thompson, “The Man with the Plan”, in Time:

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

   • 2004 September 8, Jarrett Bell, “Bengals' Kitna 'classy' about losing job to Palmer”, in USA Today, retrieved 5 October 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

• Bulgarian: с жълто около устата (s žǎlto okolo ustata)
• Chinese:

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

  Mandarin: 乳臭未乾／乳臭未干 (zh) (rǔxiùwèigān), 少不更事的 (shàobùgēngshìde, shàobùjīngshìde)

• Dutch: nat achter de oren
• Finnish: kokematon (fi); märkäkorva (noun)
• 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)
• 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)
• Latvian: vēl slapjš aiz ausīm
• 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)
• Vietnamese: chân ướt chân ráo