callow

callow

See also: Callow

English

Etymology

From Middle English calwe (“bald”), from Old English calu (“callow, bare, bald”), from Proto-Germanic *kalwaz (“bare, naked, bald”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel(H)wo- (“naked, bald”). Cognate with West Frisian keal (“bald”), Dutch kaal (“bald”), German kahl (“bald”), Russian го́лый (gólyj, “nude”), Latin calvus (“bald”), Persian کل‎ (kal), Sanskrit कुल्व (kulvá).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): [ˈkæloʊ]
• Rhymes: -æləʊ

Adjective

callow (comparative callower or more callow, superlative callowest or most callow)

1. (obsolete) Bald.
2. Unfledged (of a young bird).
   • Dryden

     And in the leafy summit spy'd a nest, / Which, o'er the callow young, a sparrow pressed.

3. Immature, lacking in life experience.

   Those three young men are particularly callow youths.

4. Lacking color or firmness (of some kinds of insects or other arthropods, such as spiders, just after ecdysis); teneral.
5. Shallow or weak-willed.
6. (of a brick) Unburnt.
7. Of land: low-lying and liable to be submerged.

Translations

bald — see bald

Unfledged

Bulgarian: неоперен (bg) (neoperen) Dutch: ongevederd German: ungefiedert

Greek: άπτερος (el) m (ápteros) Irish: scallta, gan cleiteacha Russian: неоперившийся (ru) (neoperivšijsja)

Immature, lacking in life experience

Bulgarian: неопитен (bg) (neopiten) Dutch: onervaren (nl), onrijp (nl), groen (nl) German: unerfahren (de), unreif (de), grün (de) Greek: άπειρος (el) m (ápeiros), πρωτόβγαλτος (el) m (protóvgaltos)

Hungarian: zöldfülű (hu), taknyos (hu) (pejorative) Irish: gan chiall Mandarin: 没经年 (has no years of experience) Russian: незре́лый (ru) (nezrélyj), нео́пытный (ru) (neópytnyj)

Lacking color

Hungarian: fakó (hu)

Shallow or weak-willed

Noun

callow (countable and uncountable, plural callows)

1. A callow young bird.
2. A callow or teneral phase of an insect or other arthropod, typically shortly after ecdysis, while the skin still is hardening, the colours have not yet become stable, and as a rule, before the animal is able to move effectively.
3. An alluvial flat.

References

• “callow” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

Anagrams

• low-cal