calf

Meaning

1. A young cow or bull of any bovid, such as domestic cattle or buffalo.
2. Leather made of the skin of domestic calves; especially, a fine, light-coloured leather used in bookbinding.
3. The young of various animals, especially elephant, giraffe, reindeer, seal, or whale (also indiscriminately used of other animals).
4. A mass of ice broken from a larger glacier, ice shelf, or iceberg.
5. A small island, near a larger island.
6. A cabless railroad engine.
7. (dated, informal) An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt.

Synonyms

calves

cow

🐮

young cow

leg

🦵

cattle

veal

sura

cows

heifer

bull

bullock

young

calfskin

lower leg

ox

🐂

shank

shin

cub

colt

bull calf

baby

👶

young animal

baby elephant

calf of leg

calf of the leg

calved ice

beby cattle

popliteal fossa

poplit

knee-pit

bossy

civet

grass

kitten

little calf

masque

musk

nark

parr

sneak

sneaker

snitch

snitcher

squealer

whelp

yearling

baby animal

small animal

small child

young bull

Translations

veau

Kalb

vitello

mollet

ternero

becerro

polpaccio

kalf

Wade

bezerro

pantorrilla

dana

μοσχάρι

kuit

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɑːf/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: calf

Inherited from Old English: cælf

Cognate with German: Kalb

Cognate with Dutch: kalf

Cognate with Danish: kalv

Cognate with English: calf

Cognate with Icelandic: kálfi

In summary

From Middle English calf, from Anglian Old English cælf, calf (West Saxon ċealf); also cognate with Scots caff, calf, cauf, cawf (“calf”), North Frisian Kualev, kualew, kuulew (“calf”), Saterland Frisian Koolich (“calf”), West Frisian keal (“calf”), German Kalb (“calf”), Luxembourgish Kallef (“calf”), Limburgish and Dutch kalf (“calf”), Vilamovian kołb, kołp (“calf”), Faroese kálvur (“calf”), Icelandic kálfur (“calf”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish kalv (“calf”), from Proto-Germanic *kalbaz, further etymology unknown.