You might not expect a relationship between the word callow and baldness, but callow comes from calu, a word that meant "bald" in Middle English and Old English. By the 17th century, callow had come to mean "without feathers" and was applied to young birds not yet ready for flight. The term was also used for those who hadn't yet spread their wings in a figurative sense.
a story about a callow youth who learns the value of hard work and self-reliance
Recent Examples on the WebFor me, DiCaprio, now pushing 50, nevertheless almost always seems too callow, too green, for the roles he’s called upon to play, especially in his many Scorsese films.—Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Oct. 2023 He was hardly callow.—Washington Post, 18 Sep. 2020 These comments expressed the callow moral vanity at the core of EA.—Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 16 Nov. 2022 No longer a brash, callow youth, Mitchell, with his still-eager grin, shows the furrows of age and experience — and the moral sincerity of Cruise’s memorable late performances, especially Minority Report and The War of the Worlds.—Armond White, National Review, 27 May 2022 Even with a callow receiving corps that has earned his wrath at times, A-Rod is a problem.—Christopher L. Gasper, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Sep. 2022 But mostly, this dark-cornered, sinister place, which is being minded by callow young caretaker Rakib (Kevin Ardilova), feels eerily still and expectant, like a spiderweb waiting for the return of its spider.—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 29 Sep. 2022 During the first half of the movie, Butler seems at times too callow as the Presley of the Fifties.—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 16 Aug. 2022 The final decade and a half of Lubitsch’s career unfolded under the cloud of the dreaded Production Code, with its prudish horror of sexuality and its callow fear of politics.—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'callow.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English calu bald, from Old English; akin to Old High German kalo bald, Old Church Slavonic golŭ bare
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