cut teeth

[for a baby or young person] to have new teeth emerging through the gums. Billy is cranky because he's cutting teeth. Ann cut her first tooth this week.

cut your teeth

(British, American & Australian) also cut your eye teeth (American)

to get your first experience of a particular type of work and learn the basic skills (often + on ) She cut her teeth on a local newspaper before landing a job on a national daily.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Rocco	ROK-ko (Italian)	Italian, Ancient Germanic
Ioseph	-	Biblical Greek, Biblical Latin
Eben	-	English
Tryphena	-	Biblical
Careen	kə-REEN	English (Rare)
Merv	MURV	English