wet behind the ears

See also: wet-behind-the-ears

English

Alternative forms

green behind the ears[1], wet-behind-the-ears

Etymology

c. 1850, Pennsylvania, calque of German feucht hinter den Ohren.[1][2]

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).[2][3] Alternative forms also from German.

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Adjective

wet behind the ears

(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

Bulgarian: с жълто около устата (s žǎlto okolo ustata)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 乳臭未乾, 乳臭未干 (jyu⁵cau³mei⁶gon¹)
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)

References

"Green behind the ears": the untold story, Ben Zimmer, Language Log, October 15, 2008
Americanisms, Maximilian Schele de Vere, 1872, pp. 146–147: “the German fancifully notices that newly-born animals are apt to be licked dry promptly everywhere except behind the ears, and hence their colloquial phrase: ‘The youngster is not dry yet behind his ears.’ The expression having become familiar to American ear in Pennsylvania first, has from thence spread to other States also.”
“a newly born animal, as a colt or a calf, on which the last spot to become dry after birth is the little depression behind either ear,” Charles Earle Funk, 1948, A Hog On Ice.

[zimmer-1] "Green behind the ears": the untold story, Ben Zimmer, Language Log, October 15, 2008

[devere-2] Americanisms, Maximilian Schele de Vere, 1872, pp. 146–147: “the German fancifully notices that newly-born animals are apt to be licked dry promptly everywhere except behind the ears, and hence their colloquial phrase: ‘The youngster is not dry yet behind his ears.’ The expression having become familiar to American ear in Pennsylvania first, has from thence spread to other States also.”

[3] “a newly born animal, as a colt or a calf, on which the last spot to become dry after birth is the little depression behind either ear,” Charles Earle Funk, 1948, A Hog On Ice.