English

Alternative forms

• green behind the ears^[1], wet-behind-the-ears

Adjective

wet behind the ears

1. (idiomatic) Inexperienced; not seasoned; new; just beginning; immature, especially in judgment.
   • 1903, "The Boy Whose Parents Wanted Him to Be Useful," Chicago Tribune, 2 Aug., p. B2 (retrieved 5 Oct 2010):

     [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.

   • 1950, Roger Appleton, "Police to End Teen-Age Gambling: Strike at Pool Hall Hangouts," Ottawa Citizen (Canada), 13 Jan., p. 18 (retrieved 5 Oct 2010):

     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.

   • 1991, Dick Thompson, "The Man with the Plan," Time, 15 July:

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

   • 2004, Jarrett Bell, "Bengals' Kitna 'classy' about losing job to Palmer," USA Today, 8 Sept. (retrieved 5 Oct 2010):

     "These young whippersnappers are still wet behind the ears."

Usage notes

• This expression is usually hyphenated when placed before the noun it modifies.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:naive

Antonyms

• dry behind the ears

Translations

References

1. 1 2 3 "Green behind the ears": the untold story, Ben Zimmer, Language Log, October 15, 2008
2. 1 2 Americanisms, Maximilian Schele de Vere, 1872, pp. 146–147: “the German fancifully notices that newly-born animals are apt to be licked dry promptly everywhere except behind the ears, and hence their colloquial phrase: ‘The youngster is not dry yet behind his ears.’ The expression having become familiar to American ear in Pennsylvania first, has from thence spread to other States also.”
3. ↑ “a newly born animal, as a colt or a calf, on which the last spot to become dry after birth is the little depression behind either ear,” Charles Earle Funk, 1948, A Hog On Ice.