wet behind ears
Fresh from birth
Wet behind the ears describes someone who is inexperienced or naive, like a newborn animal still damp from birth.
The phrase typically appears with negation to assert competence: I'm not wet behind the ears—I've been doing this for twenty years.
Someone who is wet behind the ears lacks the seasoning that comes with time in a field or role.
- inexperiencedLacking practical knowledge
- naiveInnocently unsuspecting
- greenColor of vegetation
- babe in woodsNaïve inexperienced person
- rookieInexperienced newcomer
newbie · new kid · callow · raw · fresh · fresh faced · innocent · just hatched · untested · unseasoned · fledgling · novice · learning the ropes · young · tender · gullible · childish · immature
- novicesnovice, beginner, rookie, newbie, greenhorn
- naivetenaivety, naive, innocence, gullible, gullibility
- naivetygreenhorn, newbie, tenderfoot, raw recruit, born yesterday
- age slanggeezer, codger, coot, old fart, old timer
- age termsyoung, old, older, younger, youngest
- maturityadulthood, immature, come of age, ripe, unripe
wet behind earsseasoned
Flavored or battle-tested
experienced · veteran · old hand · hardened · long in the tooth
wet behind earsworldly-wise
Experienced in practical matters
streetwise · savvy · sophisticated · worldly · knowing
wetter, wettest, wetness, wets, wetted, wetting, behind, ears, earless