callow
[ kal-oh ]
/ ˈkæl oʊ /
adjective
immature or inexperienced: a callow youth.
(of a young bird) featherless; unfledged.
noun
a recently hatched worker ant.
RELATED WORDS
inexperienced, crude, green, guileless, infant, jejune, juvenile, kid, naive, puerile, raw, tenderfoot, unripe, unsophisticated, untrained, untried, young, jellybean, sophomore, unfledged
Nearby words
- callot,
- callot, jacques,
- callous,
- calloused,
- callously,
- calloway,
- calloway, cab,
- callus,
- calm,
- calmative
Origin of callow
before 1000; Middle English, Old English calu bald; cognate with Dutch kaal, German kahl bald, OCS golŭ bare
SYNONYMS FOR callow
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for callow
callow
/ (ˈkæləʊ) /
adjective
lacking experience of life; immature
rare (of a young bird) unfledged and usually lacking feathers
Word Origin for callow
Old English calu; related to Old High German kalo, Old Slavonic golú bare, naked, Lithuanian galva head, Latin calvus bald
Callow
/ (ˈkæləʊ) /
noun
Simon. born 1949, British actor and theatre director
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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callow
Old English calu "bare, bald," probably from West Germanic *kalwaz (cf. Middle Dutch calu, Dutch kaal, Old High German kalo, German Kahl), perhaps from Latin or Celtic. From young birds with no feathers, meaning extended to any young inexperienced thing or creature (1570s). Apparently not from Latin calvus "bald."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper