callow

== English == === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkæləʊ/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkæloʊ/ Rhymes: -æləʊ Hyphenation: cal‧low === Etymology 1 === From Middle English calwe (“(adjective) bald; (noun) bald person”), from Old English calu, caluw (“without hair, bald, callow”), from Proto-West Germanic *kalu, from Proto-Germanic *kalwaz (“bald; bare, naked”), and then either: from Proto-Indo-European *gol(H)-wo- (“bald; bare, naked”), from *gelH- (“head; naked”); or from Latin calvus (“bald”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥H- (“bald; naked”). If not borrowed from Latin, Grimm’s law indicates that the Latin word is likely a false cognate, along with Persian کل (kal) and Sanskrit कुल्व (kulvá). ==== Adjective ==== callow (comparative callower or more callow, superlative callowest or most callow) (of a person) Immature, inexperienced, or naive. (of a person) Having no hair; bald, bare, hairless. (masonry) Of a brick: unburnt. (zoology) (ornithology) Of a young bird, or (part of) its body: having not developed feathers yet; featherless, unfledged; hence, of other animals or their bodies: having no fur or hair; furless, hairless, unfurred. (figurative) Lacking life experience; immature, inexperienced, naive; also, of or relating to something immature or inexperienced. Synonyms: green, wet behind the ears; see also Thesaurus:naive Antonyms: experienced; see also Thesaurus:mature (by extension) In the life cycle of an animal: newly born or hatched; juvenile. a callow bee (entomology) Synonym of teneral (“of certain insects or other arthropods such as spiders: lacking colour or firmness just after ecdysis (“shedding of the exoskeleton”)”). (obsolete) Of land: having no vegetation; bare. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Noun ==== callow (countable and uncountable, plural callows) (entomology) Synonym of teneral (“an insect or other arthropod such as a spider which has just undergone ecdysis (“shedding of the exoskeleton”) and so lacks colour or firmness”). (geology) An alluvial flat. (UK, regional, mining, archaic) The upper layer of rubble in a quarry which has to be removed to reach the material to be mined. (obsolete) (ornithology) A young bird which has not developed feathers yet; a nestling. (figurative) A person lacking life experience; an immature or naive person. (East Anglia) Synonym of topsoil (“upper layer of soil”). ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From Irish caladh (“meadow by a riverbank”), from Old Irish calad (“shore, landing, port”), probably a noun use of calad (“hard”, adjective), from Proto-Celtic *kaletos (“cruel; hard; strong”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlH-eto- (“cold”) (in the sense of something frozen and thus hard), from an unclear root *ḱl(H)- or *kl(H)- (“hard”); or related to Proto-Germanic *halluz (“boulder, rock, stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“to cut, hew”). Perhaps influenced by Etymology 1 in some manner. ==== Adjective ==== callow (comparative more callow, superlative most callow) (Ireland) Of land: low-lying and near a river, and thus regularly submerged. ===== Translations ===== ==== Noun ==== callow (plural callows) (Ireland) A low-lying meadow near a river which is regularly submerged. Synonyms: flood meadow, water meadow Near-synonyms: bog, fen, marsh, swamp, mire, moor, slough ===== Translations ===== === References === === Further reading === callow (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “callow”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. === Anagrams === low-cal