cut one's teeth
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to gain initial experience or skills in a particular field
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Có được kinh nghiệm hoặc kỹ năng ban đầu trong một lĩnh vực
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: cut baby teeth
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She cut her teeth as a journalist on a local newspaper.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “cut one's teeth” mean?
to gain initial experience or skills in a particular field Literally: cut baby teeth
Is “cut one's teeth” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.