# calf

> English word · Noun · IPA /kɑːf/ · frequency rank #10,996

## Definitions
1. A young cow or bull of any bovid, such as domestic cattle or buffalo.
2. Leather made of the skin of domestic calves; especially, a fine, light-coloured leather used in bookbinding.
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.
6. A cabless railroad engine.
7. An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt.

## Etymology
From Middle English calf, from Anglian Old English cælf, calf (West Saxon ċealf), 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”)

## Easily confused with
- **Cl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cl)
- **can** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-can)
- **car** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-car)
- **cat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cat)
- **cap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cap)
- **cam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cam)
- **col** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-col)
- **cas** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cas)
- **Cao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cao)
- **cpl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cpl)
- **CFL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cfl)
- **cel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cel)
- **cay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cay)
- **CDL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cdl)
- **CIF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-cif)
- **CLP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-clp)
- **CLC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-clc)
- **CSL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-csl)
- **Clo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-clo)
- **caw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calf-vs-caw)

## Common misspellings (6)
`aclf`, `cafl`, `calff`, `callf`, `ccalf`, `claf`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/calf