callow「幼稚無經驗的；未諳世事的」

幼稚什麼意思

Word of the Day ： August 12， 2021

callow

幼稚無經驗的；未諳世事的

adjective KAL-oh

wd20210812

wd20210812

01：25

來自E語Tong

What It Means

Callow means “lacking adult sophistication。” It is used to describe a young person who does not have much experience and does not know how to behave like an adult。

Callow的意思是“缺少成人的成熟”。它用來形容沒有太多經驗，不知道如何像成年人的年輕人。

Full definition

The drill sergeant‘s task is to train the callow recruits。

教官的任務是訓練沒有經驗的新兵。

Examples

“In her letters， Higgison had noticed， she no longer signed her name on a card slipped inside the envelope…。 Largely gone， too， were the callow signatures of ’Your Gnome‘ and ’Your Scholar。‘ Now she signed her name with a single word： ’Dickinson。‘ That is who she had become。” — Martha Ackmann， The Atlantic， 23 June 2020

“在她的信中，希吉森注意到，她不再在信封裡的卡片上籤上自己的名字了……’Your Gnome‘ and ’Your Scholar。‘的字樣也基本上消失了。 現在她只簽下自己的名字：“迪金森”。 那就是她改變的模樣兒。”

“As ［Christopher Plummer］ made a name for himself 。。。 he found work on tours with the last of the great actress-managers and divas…。 He played callow youth to their imperious grandeur…。” — Helen Shaw， Vulture， 19 Feb。 2021

當［克里斯托弗·普盧默］成名時……他在巡迴演出中找到了與最後一位偉大的女演員、經理和歌劇演員合作的工作，

……He played callow youth to their imperious grandeur…。「

他扮演稚嫩的青年去迎合他們的蠻橫自大？（不確定對不對）」

……

Did You Know?

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。

你可能想不到callow和baldness之間有什麼關係，但callow來源於中古英語和古英語中表示“hald「禿頭」”含義的單詞 calu。到了17世紀，“callow”已經有了“without feathers「沒有羽毛」”的意思，用來指還沒有準備好飛行的幼鳥。這個詞也被用來比喻那些還沒有展開翅膀的人。

Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of callow： p _ e _ i l _。

答案：puerile「幼稚的；孩子氣的」