Etymology

be a hundred years too early

Today it means: To be so immature and unprepared as to have no hope of achieving an accomplishment. Full definition →

Japanese 百年早い
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Japanese · calque of百年早い
  2. English todaybe a hundred years too early

Calque of Japanese 百年早い (hyaku-nen hayai). This Japanese idiom was a hyperbole derived from 十年早い (jūnen hayai, “you are ten years too early”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.