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wet behind the ears

adj

Etymology

First 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.

Definitions

  1. Inexperienced

    Inexperienced; just beginning; immature (especially in judgment).

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

The neighborhood

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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA