Meaning
To spend a period of one's youth on frivolous, immoderate, or dissolute pursuits, with the implication that this is a phase to be got through before settling down. Traditionally said of young men and often a euphemism for youthful sexual adventures, though now used more broadly of reckless early freedom. Informal, wry, and slightly euphemistic; historically gendered toward young men. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The metaphor is agricultural and bitter: wild oats (Avena fatua) are a weed that mimics cultivated oats but is worthless as grain, so deliberately sowing them is the model of wasted effort. Etymonline dates the figurative sense, 'youthful excesses', to the 1560s and quotes Thomas Newton (1576) on youth that 'hath not sowed all theyr wyld Oates'; in the 16th and 17th centuries 'wild oats' was itself a nickname for dissolute young men, as recorded in reference works quoted on the Phrase Finder's pages. Popular accounts push the idea back to classical antiquity, variously crediting the Greek poet Archilochus (7th century BC) or the Roman comedian Plautus, but these attributions circulate without a firm citation, so the documented history begins with 16th-century English proverbs. The 'sow your wild oats before you settle' framing was a stock sermon theme by the 17th century.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- sow a few wild oats
- sow one's wild oats
- sow your wild oats
- sowing wild oats
Usage Examples
- He spent his twenties sowing his wild oats and applied to law school at thirty-one.
- Her grandmother liked to say she had sown a few wild oats before opening the bakery.
- The band sowed their wild oats on a chaotic first tour, then signed with a serious label.