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乳臭未干 (rǔ xiù wèi gān) — still wet behind the ears; young and inexperienced

Definition

A literary idiom meaning 'still wet behind the ears' — used to mock or tease someone as young, naive, and short on experience. Strongly negative/critical in tone.

idiom
still wet behind the earsyoung and inexperienced

Examples

  • ，乳臭未干，。
    Tā suī rán dà xué bì yè le, dàn zài gōng zuò jīng yàn fāng miàn hái shì rǔ xiù wèi gān, xū yào duō xué xí.
    Although he graduated from college, he is still wet behind the ears in terms of work experience and needs to learn more.
  • ，乳臭未干，。
    Bié kàn tā nián jì bù xiǎo, qí shí rǔ xiù wèi gān, yí yù dào fù zá wèn tí jiù huāng le.
    Don't think he's old — he is actually still wet behind the ears and panics as soon as he encounters complex problems.
  • 乳臭未干，。
    Zhè ge xīn lái de shí xí shēng rǔ xiù wèi gān, zuò qǐ shì lái máo shǒu máo jiǎo de.
    This new intern is still wet behind the ears; he does things clumsily.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

乳 originally drew a kneeling woman holding and breastfeeding a child, matching its meanings of breast and milk.

Open 乳 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

臭 combines 自 (nose) and 犬 (dog), referring to a dog's strong sense of smell; it originally meant 'to smell'.

Open 臭 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 未 shows a tree with extra branches spreading above its trunk, like lush, overlapping limbs.

Open 未 →

The simplified 干 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (饼干, 干杯) it is 乾; in others (干, 干活儿) (干扰) it is 幹 or 干.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 乾; 干 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
乙乙yǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
倝
倝gàn乾gān
Same sound today
Open 干 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set PhrasesLife Stages & Age

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