ninny

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɪni/
• Rhymes: -ɪni

Noun

ninny (plural ninnies)

1. (informal) A silly or foolish person.

   Synonym: dummkopf

   • 1607, John Marston, “Act 5, Scene 1”, in What you will‎^[1], page three of sheet G3:

     Byd. […] a good cheeke, an inticing eye, a smooth skinne, a well shapt leg, a faire hand, you cannot bring a wench into a fooles parradize for you?
     Sim. Not I by this garter, I am a foole, a very Ninny I, how call you her? how call you her?

   • c. 1610-11 William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III scene ii^[2]:

     Caliban: What a pied ninny's this! Thou scurvy patch! […]

   • 1962, John D. MacDonald

     Ninny — that soft, smiling, self-effacing, apologetic fellow, the type who is terribly sorry when you happen to step on his foot, the kind you can borrow money from in the certainty he will never demand you repay it.

Related terms

• nincompoop
• ninnyish
• ninnyism
• ninnyhammer

Translations

a silly or foolish person

• Finnish: nynny, nysverö
• Greek: κουτορνίθι (el) n (koutorníthi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: ню́ня (ru) m or f (njúnja)
• Swedish: jöns (sv), dumbom (sv)