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Should I be more careful about my use of the word idiot? Or is it's meaning broad enough to avoid offense because it doesn't make negative reference to a specific group of people or individual?
Though the use of 'idiot,' 'moron,' and 'imbecile' is widespread and very common to denote someone acting stupidly, they were all once clinical terms to describe people with mental impairments. Keep it in mind, should you use them, that there is a potential to offend.
The English idiot originally meant “ignorant person,” but the more usual reference now is to a person who lacks basic intelligence or common sense rather than education.
The word “moron” was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard and was derived from the ancient Greek word “moros”, which meant “dull”. “Idiot” derives from the ancient Greek, “idio”, meaning “person lacking professional skill” or “mentally deficient person incapable of ordinary reasoning”.
An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person. 'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot guard themself against common physical dangers.
noun. /ˈɪdiət/ (informal) a rude way to refer to somebody who you think is very stupid synonym fool. When I lost my passport, I felt such an idiot. What idiot pressed the switch? see also village idiot. Extra Examples. Oxford Collocations Dictionary. Definitions on the go.
Contemporary uses of the word “idiot” usually highlight a subject’s lack of intelligence, ignorance, foolishness or buffoonery. The word’s etymological roots, however, going back to ancient...
