callow

cal·low/ˈkæloʊ/adjective, noun

callow is spelled C-A-L-L-O-W: 6 letters and 2 syllables (cal·low). It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 55,433rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, callow means “Immature, inexperienced, or naive” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in callow?

Letters	6: C-A-L-L-O-W
Syllables	2: cal·low
In writing	about once in every 3 million words; the 55,433rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched	none measured in search
Rhymes with	shallow aloe fallow allo more

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 callow?

Callow appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 55,433rd most frequent word form in the list.

callow0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce callow?

UK /ˈkæləʊ/
US /ˈkæloʊ/

Callow has 2 syllables, split cal·low in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-callow.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-callow.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with callow?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as callow from its last stressed vowel (/æloʊ/):

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 callow

callower comparative
more callow comparative
callowest superlative
most callow superlative
callows plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does callow mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

1
Immature, inexperienced, or naive.
2
Having no hair; bald, bare, hairless.
3
Of a brick: unburnt.
4
Of a young bird, or (part of) its body: having not developed feathers yet; featherless, unfledged; hence, of other animals or their bodies: having no fur or hair; furless, hairless, unfurred.
5
Lacking life experience; immature, inexperienced, naive; also, of or relating to something immature or inexperienced.
Those three young men are particularly callow youths.
6
In the life cycle of an animal: newly born or hatched; juvenile.
a callow bee
7
Synonym of teneral (“of certain insects or other arthropods such as spiders: lacking colour or firmness just after ecdysis (“shedding of the exoskeleton”)”).
8
obsoleteOf land: having no vegetation; bare.
9
IrelandOf land: low-lying and near a river, and thus regularly submerged.

noun

1
Synonym of teneral (“an insect or other arthropod such as a spider which has just undergone ecdysis (“shedding of the exoskeleton”) and so lacks colour or firmness”).
2
An alluvial flat.
3
UKarchaicThe upper layer of rubble in a quarry which has to be removed to reach the material to be mined.
4
obsoleteA young bird which has not developed feathers yet; a nestling.
5
obsoleteA person lacking life experience; an immature or naive person.
6
obsoleteSynonym of topsoil (“upper layer of soil”).
7
IrelandA low-lying meadow near a river which is regularly submerged.
Near-synonyms: bog, fen, marsh, swamp, mire, moor, slough