wet behind the ears
Inexperienced; just beginning; immatureInexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment).
Meaning
1 senses(idiomatic)Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment).
grün hinter den Ohren, noch grün hinter den Ohren sein, nicht trocken hinter den Ohren
молоко́ на губа́х не обсо́хлоmolokó na gubáx ne obsóxlo
Translations
4 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
First use appears c. 1850 in Pennsylvania, a calque of German feucht hinter den Ohren. FroFirst use appears c. 1850 in Pennsylvania, a calque of German feucht hinter den Ohren. From the drying of amniotic fluid of a baby after birth, specifically a newborn farm animal, whose ears are the last to dry, partly because it is licked dry by its mother everywhere else. Alternative forms also derive from German.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.