greenhorn

See also: Greenhorn

English

Etymology

Unconfirmed. Hypotheses include:

• Middle English grene horne, the horn of a newly slaughtered animal
• From the reference to an animal with green (that is, young) horns
• From 17th-century jewellery manufacturing, which used decorated horn impressed at a specific temperature. If heated too high (a common mistake by apprentices), the horn turned green.
• From a misappropriation of the German expression "grün hinter den Ohren" (to be green behind the ears).

Noun

greenhorn (plural greenhorns)

1. (chiefly US) an inexperienced person; a novice, beginner or newcomer
   • 1847, George Frederick Augustus Ruxton, Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains, page 267:

     The powers of the Canadian voyageurs and hunters in the consumption of meat strike the greenhorn with wonder and astonishment; and are only equalled by the gastronomical capabilities exhibited by Indian dogs, both following the same plan in their epicurean gorgings.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:beginner

Derived terms

• greenhornism

Translations

inexperienced person

• Bulgarian: новак (bg) m (novak), аджамия (bg) m (adžamija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 新手 (zh) (xīnshǒu), 生手 (zh) (shēngshǒu), 初學者／初学者 (zh) (chūxuézhě), 初学者 (zh) (chūxúezhě), (disparaging) 菜鳥／菜鸟 (zh) (càiniǎo), 菜鸟 (zh) (càiniǎo)

• Czech: zelenáč m
• Dutch: melkmuil (nl), vlasbaard
• Esperanto: flavbekulo (eo)
• Finnish: märkäkorva
• French: béjaune (fr) m; blanc-bec (fr) m, bleu (fr) m
• German: Grünschnabel (de) m (green beak), Gelbschnabel (yellow beak)
• Hungarian: zöldfülű (hu)
• Italian: pivello (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 初心者 (ja) (しょしんしゃ, shoshinsha), 初学者 (しょがくしゃ, shogakusha), (disparaging) 青二才 (ja) (あおにさい, aonisai)
• Maori: tangata ihu hūpē (idiomatic)
• Polish: żółtodziób (pl)
• Portuguese: café com leite (pt)
• Romanian: mucos (ro) m
• Russian: новичо́к (ru) m (novičók), новоприбы́вший (ru) m (novopribývšij), зелёный (ru) m (zeljónyj), (disparaging, especially navy) сала́га (ru) m or f (salága), (disparaging) молокосо́с (ru) m (molokosós)
• Spanish: novicio m, aprendiz (es) m or f, novato (es) m, pipiolo (es) m
• Swedish: gröngöling (sv) c
• Tagalog: singki
• Turkish: acemi çaylak (tr)