calf
Pluralcalves
- 1A young cow or bull, or the young of certain other large animals such as the buffalo, elephant, giraffe, seal, or whale.
A spindly calf followed the herd across the dusty paddock.
The buffalo calves were branded before the spring roundup.
UsagePlural calves (not
incorrect: calfs); a cow carrying a young one is in calf.Note
The verb follows the animal: a cow that gives birth calves, as Goldenhorns does in Knut Hamsun's Growth of the Soil (1917). The calf of the leg is a different word altogether.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Calve means to give birth to a calf, with third-person singular calves. en.wiktionary.org
- Goldenhorns calves in Knut Hamsun's Growth of the Soil. gutenberg.org
- Hamsun's novel was first published in 1917. en.wikipedia.org
- The anatomical calf is a separate homonym, entering Middle English through Old Norse kalfi. en.wiktionary.org
- 2The fleshy, muscular back part of the leg below the knee.
She felt her calf tighten into a cramp during the sprint.
Cyclists develop powerful calves from years of climbing hills.
UsagePlural calves; people pull a calf muscle or get a cramp in the calf.
Note
Gym and bodybuilding talk uses it this way, often in the plural: calves are trained, sized up and judged. Steve Holman, reporting a contest in Ironman in 1988, wrote that a competitor's "calves are a little weak" while the rest of his physique was overwhelming.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Wiktionary attributes this contest assessment to Steve Holman's 1988 Ironman article “Christian Conquers Columbus”, volume 47, issue 6, pages 28–34; the quoted wording and description of the remaining physique match. en.wiktionary.org
- 3Leather tanned from calfskin, in particular the fine, pale grade that bookbinders use.
Each cover was wrapped in calf and tooled with an intricate border.
The dealer prized the first edition for its original calf, still soft to the touch.
UsageUsually no article: a book bound in calf.
Similarcalfskin
Note
Because it was prized, it was also imitated. Douglas Cockerell, in Leather for Bookbinding (1900), complained that sheepskins were "got up to look like calf" and that calf itself was grained to resemble other leathers, so each skin lost its own characteristic surface.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Calf was prized as a binding material and was imitated. gutenberg.org
- Douglas Cockerell's Leather for Bookbinding was published in 1900; it was a journal article. en.wiktionary.org
- Cockerell used the quoted wording about imitation calf and described artificial graining that obscured leathers' characteristic surfaces. gutenberg.org
Less common meanings
- 4A detached mass of ice that has split off from a glacier, ice shelf, or iceberg.
The expedition photographed a calf the size of a building drifting from the ice front.
Newly broken calves littered the fjord after the warm spell.
Note
Ice borrows the farmyard image. A glacier or ice shelf becomes the parent, and the block that breaks away becomes its young. The plural is calves, as in Elisha Kent Kane's Adrift in the Arctic Ice Pack, where "the interposing calves" drift between the floes. Here it is a count noun for one broken mass, not a word for floating ice in general.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The ice terminology uses the figurative image of a parent producing a calf. en.wiktionary.org
- Adrift in the Arctic Ice Pack is attributed to Elisha Kent Kane and contains the exact phrase 'the interposing calves' describing ice between floes. gutenberg.org
- Kane's calves are discrete broken ice masses, rather than floating ice generally; his surrounding explanation specifically describes fragments of sea-ice floes. gutenberg.org
- 5An awkward or silly boy or young man; more generally, any foolish person.
some silly, doating, brainless calf
1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “Nimphidia. The Court of Fayrie.”Similaroaf, fool, dolt, clod, lummox
Note
Michael Drayton wrote of "some silly, doating, brainless calf" in 1627, and the word still tends to travel with adjectives of that kind.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Michael Drayton used calf as an insult in Nymphidia, in the quoted phrase; the words belong to the poem's narrator. en.wikisource.org
- The poem containing the quotation was first published in 1627. gutenberg.org
- 6An islet off the shore of a larger island.
- 7A railroad locomotive that lacks an operator's cab, typically controlled from a separate cab-equipped engine.
Practice
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Origins
The word for a young cow comes from Middle English calf, from Old English cælf, and traces back to Proto-Germanic *kalbaz. It is related to German Kalb, Dutch kalf, and Swedish kalv, but its further origin is unknown.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- The animal word descends from Middle English calf and Old English cælf, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kalbaz. en.wiktionary.org
- It is related to German Kalb. en.wiktionary.org
- It is related to Dutch kalf. en.wiktionary.org
- It is related to Swedish kalv. en.wiktionary.org
- The further origin of Proto-Germanic *kalbaz is unknown. en.wiktionary.org
The word for the back of the lower leg comes from Middle English calf, from Old Norse kalfi, possibly from the same Germanic root as calf (young cow). It is related to Icelandic kálfi (calf of the leg).
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Calf meaning the back of the lower leg comes through Middle English calf from Old Norse kalfi. en.wiktionary.org
- It possibly derives from the same Germanic root as calf meaning a young cow. en.wiktionary.org
- It is related to Icelandic kálfi, meaning calf of the leg. en.wikipedia.org