calf

UK/kɑːf//kæf/

calf noun: a young cow or bull of any bovid, such as domestic cattle or buffalo.

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Noun (1)

calf (plural calves or (nonstandard) calfs)

A young cow or bull of any bovid, such as domestic cattle or buffalo.
- And Goldenhorns calved. A great day in the wilderness, a joy and a delight. They gave her flour-wash, and Isak himself saw to it there was no stint of flour, though he had carried it all the way himself, on his back. And there lay a pretty calf, a beauty, red-flanked like her mother, and comically...1917, Knut Hamsun, Growth of the Soil, Book 1, Ch.3, at p.22
Leather made of the skin of domestic calves; especially, a fine, light-coloured leather used in bookbinding.
- We find now, that instead of leather made from sheep, calf, goat, and pig-skins, each having, when finished, its own characteristic surface, that sheepskins are got up to look like calf, morocco, or pigskin; that calf is grained to resemble morocco or so polished and fattened as to have but little...1900 Douglas Cockerell: Leather for Bookbinding. Journal of the Society of Arts, March 30 1900, p. 406
The young of various animals, especially elephant, giraffe, reindeer, seal, or whale (also indiscriminately used of other animals).
A mass of ice broken from a larger glacier, ice shelf, or iceberg.
- 1915 (published), 1848 (first written), Elisha Kent Kane, Adrift in the Arctic Ice Pack
  Our swell ceases with this wind, and the floes seem disposed to come together again; but the days of winter have passed by, and the interposing calves prevent the apposition of the edges
A small island, near a larger island.
- Situated in the north of the Irish Sea and to the south-west of the isle of Man, the Calf of Man is ideally placed on the bird migration routes over the western side of the British Isles. Its importance for migrating and breeding birds had been recognised long before the observatory was established...2010 Kate Hawkins Calf of Man. In: Bird Observatories of Britain and Ireland, ed Mike Archer, Mark Grantham, et al. →ISBN (pages unnumbered)
A cabless railroad engine.
(dated, informal) An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt.
- some silly, doating, brainless calf1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “Nimphidia. The Court of Fayrie.”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC

Noun (2)

calf (plural calves)

The back of the leg below the knee.
The muscle in the back of the leg below the knee.
- Sure, his calves are a little weak, but the rest of his physique is so overwhelming, he should place high.1988, Steve Holman, “Christian Conquers Columbus”, in Ironman, 47 (6): 28-34

calf meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

calf in Tamil

young cow or bull: கன்று kaṉṟu, கன்றுக்குட்டி kaṉṟukkuṭṭi
young deer, elephant, seal or whale (also used of some other animals): கன்று kaṉṟu
anatomy: back of the leg below the knee: கால் kāl, கெண்டைக்கால் keṇṭaikkāl
muscle in the back of the leg below the knee: கெண்டைக்கால் keṇṭaikkāl, கெண்டைக்கால் தசை keṇṭaikkāl tacai

calf in Marathi

young cow or bull: वासरू vāsrū
anatomy: back of the leg below the knee: पोटरी poṭrī

calf in Urdu

young cow or bull: بچھیا bachiyā

More languagesFewer languages

calf in Bengali: ডেহা ḍêha, বাছুর bachur
calf in Telugu: దూడ dūḍa, పెయ్య peyya, లేగ lēga
calf in Malayalam: കിടാവ് kiṭāvŭ, കുട്ടൻ kuṭṭaṉ
calf in Kannada: ಕರು karu, ಮರಿ mari
calf in Punjabi: ਪਿੰਨੀ pinnī
calf in Gujarati: વાછરડું vācharḍũ
calf in Sanskrit: गोवत्स govatsa, वत्स vatsa
calf in Sinhala: දඟය daⁿgaya
calf in Assamese: দমৰা domora, বাছৰু basoru
calf in Nepali: बाच्छो bāccho, बाच्छी bācchī, पिडौला piḍaulā
calf in Pashto: سخی sxay
calf in Tagalog: guya, binti
calf in Arabic: عِجْل ʕijl, دَغْفَل daḡfal, حُوَار ḥuwār, بَطَّة baṭṭa
calf in Malay: anak lembu, betis
calf in Indonesian: betis
calf in Persian: گوساله gusâle, پشت ساق pošt-e sâq
calf in Thai: น่อง nɔ̂ng
calf in Vietnamese: bê, bắp chân, bắp vế
calf in Myanmar: နွားကလေး nwa:ka.le:, သလုံး sa.lum:
Kashmiri: وۆژھ voċh, وَژھٕر vaċhụr

Examples of calf in a sentence

And there lay a pretty calf, a beauty, red-flanked like her mother, and comically bewildered at the miracle of coming into the world.1917, Knut Hamsun, Growth of the Soil, Book 1, Ch.3, at p.22
Situated in the north of the Irish Sea and to the south-west of the isle of Man, the Calf of Man is ideally placed on the bird migration routes over the western side of the British Isles.2010 Kate Hawkins Calf of Man. In: Bird Observatories of Britain and Ireland, ed Mike Archer, Mark Grantham, et al. →ISBN (pages unnumbered)

All 40 example sentences with calf

Synonyms of calf

Forms of calf

plural	calves
plural (nonstandard)	calfs

Plural of calf: calves

Origin of calf

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”) * West Frisian keal (“calf”) * German Kalb (“calf”) * Luxembourgish Kallef (“calf”) * Limburgish kalf (“calf”) * Dutch kalf (“calf”) * Vilamovian kołb (“calf”) * Vilamovian kołp (“calf”) * Faroese kálvur (“calf”) * Icelandic kálfur (“calf”) * Danish kalv (“calf”) * Norwegian Bokmål kalv (“calf”) * Norwegian Nynorsk kalv (“calf”) * Swedish kalv (“calf”)

From Middle English calf, kalf, from Old Norse kalfi, possibly derived from the same Germanic root as English calf (“young cow”) (above). Cognate with Icelandic kálfi (“calf of the leg”).

Words formed from calf

Phrases with calf

Words that rhyme with calf

Questions about calf

What does calf mean?: Calf means a young cow or bull of any bovid, such as domestic cattle or buffalo.
What is calf in Hindi?: Calf in Hindi is बछड़ा (bachṛā). See Calf meaning in Hindi.
How do you use calf in a sentence?: And there lay a pretty calf, a beauty, red-flanked like her mother, and comically bewildered at the miracle of coming into the world.
What part of speech is calf?: Calf is a noun.
How do you pronounce calf?: Calf is pronounced /kɑːf/ (UK).
What is the plural of calf?: The plural of calf is calves.

Words near calf in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: calf (page history and authors); ডেহা (Bengali) (page history and authors); దూడ (Telugu) (page history and authors); കിടാവ് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ਪਿੰਨੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); વાછરડું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); දඟය (Sinhala) (page history and authors); দমৰা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-calf.ogg.

Cite this entry: “calf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/calf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.