old head on young shoulders

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Someone with a mature and responsible attitude despite their young age

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Người có thái độ trưởng thành và có trách nhiệm dù còn trẻ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: an older person's head on a young person's body
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She has an old head on young shoulders and is very wise beyond her years

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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Common questions

What does “old head on young shoulders” mean?

Someone with a mature and responsible attitude despite their young age Literally: an older person's head on a young person's body

Is “old head on young shoulders” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“ông cụ non” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.