calf
/kæf/noun
calf is spelled C-A-L-F: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, calf means “A young cow or bull of any bovid, such as domestic cattle or buffalo” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of calf is calves; Wiktionary also lists calfs (nonstandard).
How many letters and syllables are in calf?
| Letters | 4: C-A-L-F |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.1 times per million words; the 11,015th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is calf?
Calf appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce calf?
- UK /kɑːf/
- US /kæf/
- Australia /kɐːf/
Calf has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-calf.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with calf
Sounds like: caff, kaph (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with calf?
7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as calf from its last stressed vowel (/æf/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of calf
- calves plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does calf mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
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
- 2
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
- 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.
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
- 6
A cabless railroad engine.
- 7
datedinformalAn 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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Calf in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | veau, velle , éléphanteau, éléphantelle, chiot, blanchon |
| German | Kalb, Bullenkalb, Kuhkalb , Wade , Wadenmuskel |
| Portuguese | bezerro, terneiro, novilho, bezerra, terneira, novilha |
| Spanish | becerro, becerra, ternero, ternera, vaquilla , cría |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does calf come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).