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calf

Pronunciation: /kɑːf/

The English word “calf” has 9 meanings listed here.

noun

  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. An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt.
  8. The back of the leg below the knee.
  9. The muscle in the back of the leg below the knee.

Etymology

From Middle English calf, from Anglian Old English cælf, calf (West Saxon ċealf), from Proto-West Germanic *kalb, from Proto-Germanic *kalbaz, further etymology unknown. Cognates * Scots caff (“calf”) * Scots calf (“calf”) * Scots cauf (“calf”) * Scots cawf (“calf”) * North Frisian Kualev (“calf”) * North Frisian kualew (“calf”) * North Frisian kuulew (“calf”) * Saterland Frisian Koolich (“calf”)…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.