tenderfoot means an inexperienced person; a novice. It carries an Arena rating of 1658, earned across 40 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, tenderfoot ranks #683 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #859 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,066 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,594 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
Why “tenderfoot” is a great word
TENDERFOOT — [Noun] An inexperienced newcomer, especially one unaccustomed to the hardships of frontier life. From tender (meaning "sensitive, delicate") + foot, referring to the delicate feet of newcomers to ranching or mining areas; first attested 1866. Unlike "novice," a neutral term for any beginner, or "greenhorn," which implies a general gullibility, tenderfoot indicts a specific physical unpreparedness for a raw environment. It is the raw, burning chafe of a stiff new boot, the flinch at a coyote's cry in the absolute dark, and the clumsy fumbling with a coffee pot over a smokey fire—the palpable vulnerability of the civilized body entering a landscape that does not accommodate it.
Etymology
From tender + foot. Refers to the delicate feet of newcomers to ranching or mining areas. First attested 1866.
noun
- An inexperienced person; a novice.
- A newcomer or arriviste to the region in the American frontier (Old West and Wild West).e.g.“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:
- A Boy Scout of the lowest rank.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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