moron

See also: Moron, Morón, morón, mörön, Mörön, and Moroń

English

Etymology

Coined by American psychologist Henry H. Goddard in 1910, from Ancient Greek μωρός (mōrós, “foolish, dull”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔːɹɒn/

  Audio (UK)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɔːɹɒn

• (without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /mo(ː)ɹɒn/, /-ɑn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmoɹɑn/, [ˈmo̞ɹɑn]

Noun

moron (plural morons)

1. (informal, offensive, derogatory) A stupid person; an idiot; a fool.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fool, Thesaurus:idiot

2. (psychology, dated, originally) A person of mild mental subnormality in the former classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50–70.

   Synonym: feeble-minded

Usage notes

• The current medical term for having an IQ between 50 and 70 is “mild intellectual disability”.

Derived terms

• Baltimoron
• momo
• moronic
• moronicity
• moron in a hurry
• moronism
• moronocracy

 

Related terms

• oxymoron
• sophomore

Descendants

• → French: moron
• → Turkish: moron

Translations

person of borderline intelligence

• Bengali: বোকা (bn) (bōka)
• Bulgarian: слабоумен (bg) m (slaboumen), дебил (bg) m (debil)
• Catalan: imbècil (ca) m or f, retardat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 白痴 (zh) (báichī)

• Danish: debil (da) person
• Dutch: debiel (nl)
• Finnish: lievästi kehitysvammainen, debiili (fi)
• French: attardé (fr), crétin (fr) m, demeuré (fr) m
• Galician: mouco (gl) m, pallouco m, bouto m, babau m, láparo m, doudo m, badío m, marmeco m, barballocas m, favilón m
• German: Schwachsinniger (de) m, Schwachkopf (de) m
• Greek: καθυστερημένος (el) (kathysteriménos)

  Ancient Greek: βλάξ m (bláx)

• Hungarian: gyengeelméjű (hu)
• Indonesian: bahlul bego (id)
• Italian: imbecille (it) m, cretino (it) m, stupido (it) m, deficiente (it) m, babbeo (it) m, idiota (it) m, ritardato (it) m, mongoloide (it) m, squasimodeo m
• Japanese: 低能者 (ていのうしゃ, teinōsha), 間抜け (ja) (まぬけ, manuke), 頓痴気 (とんちき, tonchiki)
• Maori: tūtae tara (Derogatory)
• Polish: debil (pl) m, przygłup (pl), bezmózg, bałwan (pl) m
• Portuguese: retardado (pt), débil mental (pt)
• Russian: деби́л (ru) m (debíl), приду́рок (ru) m (pridúrok), крети́н (ru) m (kretín), отморо́зок (ru) m (otmorózok), моро́н (ru) m (morón) (rare)
• Spanish: retrasado (es) m, retrasada (es) f, morón (es) (Panamá, Puerto Rico)

person who makes uncool attempts to impress others

• Catalan: imbècil (ca) m or f, subnormal (ca) m or f, retardat, idiota (ca) m or f
• Danish: tåbe c
• Dutch: mogool, mongol (nl)
• Finnish: hölmö (fi), tollo (fi)
• French: andouille (fr) f, débile (fr) m or f, mongol (fr) m
• Galician: parvo (gl) m, paspán (gl) m, pailán m, lores m, babiolo (gl) m, pasmón m, bausán m, buzaco m, arnoia m, pándeo m, miñoto m, balaínzo m, babeco (gl) m, solocho m
• German: Schwachkopf (de) m, Trottel (de) m, Depp (de) m
• Greek: βλαμμένος (el) (vlamménos), κρετίνος (el) m (kretínos)
• Hungarian: hülye (hu)
• Indonesian: sontoloyo (id)
• Portuguese: babaca (pt), otário (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: буда̀ла f

  Roman: budàla (sh) f

• Spanish: subnormal (es) m or f, retrasado (es) m, retardado (es) m, débil mental m or f, imbécil (es) m or f, idiota (es) m or f, baboso (es) m
• Turkish: moron (tr)

idiot — see idiot

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

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} imbecille, ^{(please verify)} idiota
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} cretino (it) m, ^{(please verify)} deficiente (it) m, ^{(please verify)} idiota (it) m, ^{(please verify)} imbecille (it) m, ^{(please verify)} stupido (it) m
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 바보 (ko) (babo) (1,2)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} retardat m, ^{(please verify)} retardată f, ^{(please verify)} tâmpit (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} tâmpită f, ^{(please verify)} imbecil (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} imbecilă (ro) f, ^{(please verify)} idiot (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} idioată (ro) f

Further reading

• Moron (psychology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Monro, normo-

Esperanto

Noun

moron

1. accusative singular of moro

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoron/, [ˈmo̞ro̞n]
• Rhymes: -oron
• Syllabification^(key): mo‧ron

Interjection

moron

1. (colloquial) Alternative form of moro.

Anagrams

• normo

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English moron, from Ancient Greek μωρός (mōrós, “foolish, dull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.ʁɔ̃/

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

Noun

moron m (plural morons, feminine moronne)

1. (Quebec) moron, idiot

Adjective

moron (feminine moronne, masculine plural morons, feminine plural moronnes)

1. (Quebec, informal) stupid

   Que t'es moron, toi! ― Gosh, you're stupid!

Middle English

Noun

moron

1. Alternative form of morwe

Romanian

Noun

moron m (plural moroni)

1. Alternative form of morun

Declension

Declension of moron

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) moron	moronul	(niște) moroni	moronii
genitive/dative	(unui) moron	moronului	(unor) moroni	moronilor
vocative	moronule		moronilor

Turkish

Etymology

From English moron, from Ancient Greek μωρός (mōrós, “slow, dull, foolish, stupid”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [moɾˈon]
• Hyphenation: mo‧ron

Adjective

moron

1. fool, stupid, idiot, moronic

Noun

moron (definite accusative moronu, plural moronlar)

1. a moron

   Bir morona aşık oldum. ― I fell in love with a moron.

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	moron
Definite accusative	moronu
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	moron	moronlar
Definite accusative	moronu	moronları
Dative	morona	moronlara
Locative	moronda	moronlarda
Ablative	morondan	moronlardan
Genitive	moronun	moronların

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔrɔn/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmoːrɔn/, /ˈmɔrɔn/
• Rhymes: -ɔrɔn

Etymology 1

From Old English moran, plural of more (“edible root, carrot, parsnip”), from Proto-West Germanic *morhā, from Proto-Germanic *murhǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥k- (“edible herb, root, tuber”).

Noun

moron f pl (singulative moronen)

1. carrots

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
moron	foron	unchanged	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Etymology 2

Noun

moron

1. Nasal mutation of boron.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
boron	foron	moron	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “moron”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies