idiot

Word Origin & History

early 14c., "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning;" also in Middle English "simple man, uneducated person, layman" (late 14c.), from Old French idiote "uneducated or ignorant person" (12c.), from Latin idiota "ordinary person, layman; outsider," in Late Latin "uneducated or ignorant person," from Greek idiotes "layman, person lacking professional skill" (opposed to writer, soldier, skilled workman), literally "private person (as opposed to one taking part in public affairs)," used patronizingly for "ignorant person," from idios "one's own" (see idiom).

Idiot box "television set" is from 1959; idiot light "dashboard warning signal" is attested from 1968. Idiot savant attested by 1870.

Example Sentences for idiot

Yet in reviewing it you speak of it as the work of the Idiot of the Century.

One pool, a backset, was known as the Idiot's Delight, because any one could catch fish there.

Idiot though she might be, surely Mr. Wilcox was more—how should one put it?

Idiot was one of the terms, the mildest, which I should have applied to that young man.

Idiot that he is, he must know that this situation can last but a short time.

"You couldn't make Zero the right kind of a man," said the Idiot.

"I mean the kind of Vacation the people in the 400 take," explained the Idiot.

"There isn't even a county jail at the end of it," observed the Idiot.

"He's the easiest proposition in the bunch," replied the Idiot.

"Bill ought to go into the publishing business," said the Idiot.

idiot

ninny

oaf

sap

saps

schlemiel

schmo

schmuck

simpleton

idiot

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