Dictionary

tenderfoot en · NOUN

Etymology

From tender + foot. Refers to the delicate feet of newcomers to ranching or mining areas. First attested 1866.

Meanings

1. (Canada, US) An inexperienced person; a novice.
2. (historical) A newcomer or arriviste to the region in the American frontier (Old West and Wild West).
   • "Lavender Cowboy," a pseudo folk song, is a tale of futility. It tells of a tenderfoot "with only two hairs on his chest," whose heroic attempt to prove his manhood results in his death. 1991 August 31, Rudy Grillo, “Color Me Gay”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 7, page 10:
   • Watson had risen so hurriedly that he had not been careful about his “tarp” and water had run into his bed. But that wouldn’t disconcert anybody but a tenderfoot. 1914, Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Letters of a Woman Homesteader, Houghton Mifflin Company, page 173:
   • Up to the time, Ranse Foster had been a nobody in particular - a dude from the East, quietly inquisitive, moving from one shack town to another; just another tenderfoot[.] 1949, Dorothy M. Johnson, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 91:
3. (dated) A Boy Scout of the lowest rank.

Forms

Deriveds

tenderfootism · tenderfootish

Relateds

cheechako · tenderfooted · newbie · greenhorn

Synonyms

greener · offcomer · blow-in · newbro · learner · entrant · bun · newbie · probationer · nozzer · freshie · incomer · abecedarian · rookie · tyrone · nubcake · amateur · newling · newcomer · stranger · outcomeling · FOB · newling · neophyte · freshman · stranger · n00b · greenie · come-here · colt · nub · first-timer · newfag · tenderfoot · alphabetarian · Johnny-come-lately · tyro · trainee · pup · apprentice · fresh meat · new chum · probie · greener · puny · beginner · fledgling · newfriend · novice · novitiate · Johnny Raw · FNG · probationist · younker · initiate · newb · comeling · noob · fresh meat · recruit · greenhorn · Johnny-come-lately · new chum · newbie · homo novus · newcomer · inceptor

Translations (19)

fr pied-tendre (newcomer in the old US frontier days) · fr pied-tendre (novice) · pl młodziczka (lowest rank of Boy Scout) · fi arkajalka (newcomer in the old US frontier days) · pl nowicjusz (novice) · pl żółtodziób (novice) · fi arkajalka (novice) · fi kolkkapoika (lowest rank of Boy Scout) · pl młodzik (lowest rank of Boy Scout) · fi noviisi (novice) · fi vasta-alkaja (novice) · pl osadnik (newcomer in the old US frontier days) · pl nowicjuszka (novice) · it novizio (novice) · fi keltanokka (novice) · fi mopo (novice) · pl osadniczka (newcomer in the old US frontier days) · fr blanc-bec (novice) · bg новобранец (novice)