callow
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callow¹
- /ˈkæləʊ/ UK
- /ˈkæloʊ/ US
Rhymes with -æləʊ
Where it comes from
From Middle English calwe (“(adjective) bald; (noun) bald person”), from Old English calu, caluw (“without hair, bald, callow”), from Proto-West Germanic *kalu, from Proto-Germanic *kalwaz (“bald; bare, naked”), and then either:
* from Proto-Indo-European *gol(H)-wo- (“bald; bare, naked”), from *gelH- (“head; naked”); or
* from Latin calvus (“bald”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥H- (“bald; naked”).
If not borrowed from Latin, Grimm’s law indicates that the Latin word is likely a false cognate, along with Persian کل (kal) and Sanskrit कुल्व (kulvá).
cognates
* Dutch kaal (“bald”)
* German kahl (“bald”)
* German Low German kahl (“bald”)
* Russian го́лый (gólyj, “bare, naked, nude”)
* Swedish kal, kalka (“bald”)
* West Frisian keal (“bald”)
adjective callower · more callow · callowest · most callow
- Immature, inexperienced, or naive. Through both the volumes, there is not a single original sentiment, description, or incident, and yet a callow reader may peruse it without perceiving any thing is wanting.
- Having no hair; bald, bare, hairless. Then there was a little Chinese in full azure costume, with long gesticulating arms, and large callow head, who pertinaciously threw in his squeaky plea for Confucius in the most unsyntactical French.
- Of a brick: unburnt.
- Of a young bird, or (part of) its body: having not developed feathers yet; featherless, unfledged; hence, of other animals or their bodies: having no fur or hair; furless, hairless, unfurred. […] Calais and Zetes had no beard upon their chin, / They both were callow. But aſſone as haire did once begin / In likeneſſe of a yellow Downe upon their cheekes to ſprout, / Then (euen as comes to paſſe in Birdes) the feathers budded out / Togither on their pinyons too, and ſpreaded round about /
-
Lacking life experience; immature, inexperienced, naive; also, of or relating to something immature or inexperienced.
Those three young men are particularly callow youths.
Similar: green, wet behind the ears, artless, callow, childlike, verdant, clueless, credulous, dewy-eyed, cute, fleeceable, foppotee · Opposite: experienced, adultish, grown up, mature
- In the life cycle of an animal: newly born or hatched; juvenile. a callow bee
-
Synonym of teneral (“of certain insects or other arthropods such as spiders: lacking colour or firmness just after ecdysis (“shedding of the exoskeleton”)”).
Similar: teneral
- Of land: having no vegetation; bare. [T]heſe Lands are not ſvvardy enough to bear clean tillage, nor callovv or light enough to lie to get ſvvard, […]
noun callows
-
Synonym of teneral (“an insect or other arthropod such as a spider which has just undergone ecdysis (“shedding of the exoskeleton”) and so lacks colour or firmness”).
Similar: teneral
- An alluvial flat.
- The upper layer of rubble in a quarry which has to be removed to reach the material to be mined.
- A young bird which has not developed feathers yet; a nestling.
- A person lacking life experience; an immature or naive person.
-
Synonym of topsoil (“upper layer of soil”).
Similar: topsoil
callow²
- /ˈkæləʊ/ UK
- /ˈkæloʊ/ US
Rhymes with -æləʊ
Where it comes from
From Irish caladh (“meadow by a riverbank”), from Old Irish calad (“shore, landing, port”), probably a noun use of calad (“hard”, adjective), from Proto-Celtic *kaletos (“cruel; hard; strong”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlH-eto- (“cold”) (in the sense of something frozen and thus hard), from an unclear root *ḱl(H)- or *kl(H)- (“hard”); or related to Proto-Germanic *halluz (“boulder, rock, stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“to cut, hew”). Perhaps influenced by Etymology 1 in some manner.
adjective more callow · most callow
- Of land: low-lying and near a river, and thus regularly submerged. The Bogs that extend along the western part of this District do not lie close to the Shannon, as those on the east side do along the banks of the Inny; they are separated from the river by a long tract of high, dry, callow land, subject, immediately near the river, to being overflowed in winter, but
noun callows
-
A low-lying meadow near a river which is regularly submerged.
Near-synonyms: bog, fen, marsh, swamp, mire, moor, slough
Similar: flood meadow, water meadow, bog, fen, marsh, swamp, mire, moor, slough
Callow³
proper noun Callows
- A surname.
Translations
Every language
adj lacking life experience — see also immature, inexperienced, naive
| Español | inmaduro, verde |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 没经年 |
| Português | imaturo, inexperiente, verde |
| Deutsch | grün, unerfahren, unreif |
| Ελληνικά | άπειρος ápeiros, πρωτόβγαλτος protóvgaltos |
| Русский | нео́пытный neópytnyj, незре́лый nezrélyj |
Talk about this word "callow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/callow. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. callow. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/callow "callow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/callow.Cite this
@misc{callow_2026,
title = {callow},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/callow},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
