callow

English

/ˈkæloʊ/, /ˈkaləʊ/

adj
Definitions
  • Unfledged (of a young bird).
  • (by extension) Immature, lacking in life experience.
  • Lacking color or firmness (of some kinds of insects or other arthropods, such as spiders, just after ecdysis); teneral.
  • Shallow or weak-willed.
  • (of a brick) Unburnt.
  • Of land: low-lying and liable to be submerged.
  • (obsolete) Bald.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English calwe (bald) inherited from Old English calu (bald, bare, callow) inherited from Proto-Germanic *kalwaz (bald, naked, bare) derived from Proto-Indo-European *gel(H)wo- (bald, naked), *gelH- (bald head).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*gelH-

Gloss

bald head

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms