Browse phrases beginning with: [A][B][C][D][E][F][G][H][I][J][K][L][M][N][O][P][Q][R][S][T][U,V][W][X,Y,Z] Wet behind the earsMeaning Naive. Origin The allusion is to the inexperience of a baby, so recently born as to be still wet. This phrase was in circulation in the USA in the early 20th century - twenty years before it was first recorded elsewhere. The converse of the phrase - 'dry back of the ears', was also known in the USA from around the same date. That was recorded in the American Dialect Society's Dialect Notes IV, 1914:
The earliest citation I can find for 'wet behind the ears' is from the Portsmouth Daily Times, October 1911:
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