Tenderfoot

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual who is inexperienced and still adapting to new challenges
2. A person new to a particular activity or environment who lacks practical experience
3. Someone who is just starting out and is unfamiliar with the usual demands of a situation

Etymology: The word joins two plain English words, "tender" and "foot", and the image behind it is literal: a newcomer's feet were thought too soft for the hard going of the frontier. The term first appears in print in 1866, in the American West, where it was applied to people arriving at ranching and mining districts who had not yet toughened up to the work. The sense of "tender" here is the older one, meaning delicate or easily hurt, the same meaning that gives us "tender" in the sense of a sore spot. Set beside it, "foot" supplies the physical picture, and the compound moved from describing a pair of unhardened feet to describing a person who lacked experience of a rough outdoor life.

Synonyms: novice, rookie, beginner, newcomer

Antonyms: expert, veteran, pro