calf
calf Lexical Profile
calf Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A young domestic cow or bull, typically under one year of age, or the young of various other large mammals such as elephants, whales, dolphins, giraffes, and deer.
"The newborn calf stood on wobbly legs beside its mother in the pasture."
The fleshy, muscular back portion of the human lower leg located between the knee and the ankle, formed primarily by the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.
"The marathon runner stretched her left calf carefully after feeling a sudden cramp during the race."
Smooth, fine-grained leather made from the hide of a young bovine, widely used for high-quality shoes, wallets, and bookbinding.
"The antique volume was bound in supple brown calf with gold tooling along the spine."
A small floating mass of ice that has broken away from a larger glacier, ice shelf, or iceberg.
"The research vessel navigated cautiously around a floating calf of ice near the glacier's edge."
Word Nuance & Usage
The word 'calf' is a classic example of homonymy with distinct etymologies: the sense referring to a young animal comes from Old English 'cealf', while the anatomical sense referring to the back of the lower leg comes from Old Norse 'kálfi'. In both senses, the standard plural is 'calves', and the related verb meaning to give birth to a calf or to break off a mass of ice is spelled and pronounced 'calve'.
• Rhymes for calf
Word Origin & Etymology
The animal sense derives from Old English 'cealf', from Proto-Germanic '*kalbaz', originally denoting a swelling or young animal. The anatomical sense denoting the fleshy back of the lower leg enters Middle English separately from Old Norse 'kálfi'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.