cretin

See also: crétin

English

Etymology

From French crétin (“cretin, idiot”), from crestin, an Alpine dialectal form of chrétien, from Latin christiānus in the lost sense of “anyone in Christendom”, often with a sense of “poor fellow”. Doublet of Christian.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɛtɪn/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹiːtɪn/, /ˈkɹɛtɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛtɪn, (US) -iːtɪn
• Homophone: Cretan (one pronunciation)

Noun

cretin (plural cretins)

1. (pathology) A person who fails to develop mentally and physically due to a congenital hypothyroidism. [from 1779]
2. (by extension, derogatory) An idiot.
   • 1969, Irving Wallace, The Seven Minutes:

     When I challenged the symbolism, tried to make the professor consider the book as a piece of realism, he regarded me as if I were an absolute cretin. He got very supercilious and condescending […]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:idiot

Derived terms

Derived terms

• cretinism
• cretinize
• cretinoid
• cretinous

Translations

person who fails to develop due to congenital hypothyroidism

• Catalan: cretí m, cretina (ca) f
• Czech: kretén (cs) m
• Dutch: cretin (nl) m
• Finnish: kretiini (fi)
• French: crétin (fr) m
• German: Kretin (de) m
• Greek: κρετίνος (el) m (kretínos)
• Hungarian: kretén (hu)
• Ido: kretino (io)
• Irish: creitín m
• Lithuanian: kretinas (lt) m
• Polish: kretyn (pl) m
• Romanian: cretin (ro) m, cretină (ro) f
• Russian: крети́н (ru) m (kretín)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: крѐте̄н m

  Roman: krètēn (sh) m

• Ukrainian: крети́н m (kretýn)

pejorative: an idiot

• Belarusian: крэці́н m (krecín), крэты́н m (kretýn)
• Bulgarian: крете́н (bg) m (kretén)
• Catalan: cretí m
• French: crétin (fr) m
• Georgian: კრეტინი (ḳreṭini)
• German: Kretin (de) m
• Greek: κρετίνος (el) m (kretínos), ηλίθιος (el) m (ilíthios)
• Hungarian: kretén (hu)
• Ido: kretinacho
• Italian: cretino (it) m
• Lithuanian: kretinas (lt) m
• Macedonian: крете́н m (kretén)
• Polish: kretyn (pl) m, kretynka (pl) f
• Portuguese: cretino (pt)
• Romanian: cretin (ro) m, cretină (ro) f
• Russian: крети́н (ru) m (kretín), крети́нка (ru) f (kretínka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: крѐте̄н m

  Roman: krètēn (sh) m

• Slovak: kritin pl
• Spanish: cretino (es) m, cretina (es) f
• Ukrainian: крети́н m (kretýn), крети́нка f (kretýnka)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} kretino (io)

Further reading

• Cretinism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:Cretinism on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• centri-, cinter, citren, crinet

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French crétin, from Latin Christianus; doublet of the inherited creștin.

Noun

cretin m (plural cretini)

1. idiot

Declension

Declension of cretin

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) cretin	cretinul	(niște) cretini	cretinii
genitive/dative	(unui) cretin	cretinului	(unor) cretini	cretinilor
vocative	cretinule		cretinilor

Synonyms

• idiot, prost, tâmpit