moron

See also: Appendix:Variations of "moron"

English

Etymology

Coined by American psychologist Henry H. Goddard in 1910, from Ancient Greek μωρόν (mōrón), the neuter form of μωρός (mōrós, “foolish, dull”). Coined in the third sense by philosopher Ronald Dworkin.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔːɹɒn/

  Audio (Southern England):

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

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fool, Thesaurus:idiot

   • 2024 March 14, Norman Finkelstein, 01:06 from the start, in Norm Finkelstein calls Destiny a fantastic moron / Lex Fridman Podcast‎, Lex Clips:

     Mr. Borelli, Mr. Borelli, with all due respect, you're such a fantastic moron it's terrifying.

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

3. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (philosophy) A hypothetical particle whose existence and configuration can make a moral judgment true.

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

• Baltimoron
• hypermoron
• momo
• moronic
• moron in a hurry
• moronism
• moronity
• moronization
• moronocracy
• submoron
• touron

Related terms

• moronicity
• moronicness
• oxymoron
• sophomore

Descendants

• → French: moron
• → Turkish: moron

Translations

stupid person — see idiot

psychology, dated: person of mild mental subnormality

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 (contemporary term), 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 (id), 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) m (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)

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-

Dongxiang

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Mongolic *mören (“river, sea”), *müren. Cognate to Mongolian мөрөн (mörön), Buryat мүрэн (müren), Kalmyk мөрн (mörn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /moˈron/

Noun

moron

1. river

References

• Ma Guozhong (马国忠); Chen Yuanlong (陈元龙) (2012), “moron”, in 东乡语汉语词典 [Dongxiang-Chinese Dictionary] (in Chinese), 2nd edition, Lanzhou: 甘肃民族出版社, →ISBN, page 295

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoron/
• Rhymes: -oron
• Hyphenation: mo‧ron

Noun

moron

1. accusative singular of moro

Finnish

Pronunciation

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

Interjection

moron (colloquial)

1. alternative form of moro

Noun

moron

1. genitive singular of moro

Further reading

• “moron”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

Anagrams

• normo

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.ʁɔ̃/

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (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

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	moron	moronul		moroni	moronii
genitive-dative	moron	moronului		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. moron

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

Declension

Declension of moron

	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.

Noun

moron (plural, singular moronen f)

1. carrots

Derived terms

• dyfrforon (“marshwort”)
• lloerforon (“mountain stone parsley, moon carrots”)
• moron arfor (“sea carrots”)
• moron Awstralia (“Australian carrots”)
• moron melynion (“skirrets”)
• moron pigog (“prickly parsnips”)
• moron y dŵr (“water parsnips”)
• moron y gwartheg (“cow parsnips, hogweed”)
• moron y maes (“wild carrots”)
• moron yr ardd (“garden carrots”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of moron

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
moron	foron	unchanged	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Etymology 2

Noun

moron

1. nasal mutation of boron

Mutation

Mutated forms of boron

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
boron	foron	moron	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

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