cretin

See also: crétin

English

Etymology

From French crétin (“cretin, idiot”), likely 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 (Southern England):(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈkɹiːtɪn/, /ˈkɹɛtɪn/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛtɪn, (US) -iːtɪn
  • Homophone: Cretan (one pronunciation)

Noun

cretin (plural cretins)

  1. (medicine, archaic) 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

Derived terms

Translations

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Further reading

Anagrams

Romanian

Etymology

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

Noun

cretin m (plural cretini)

  1. idiot
    Synonyms: idiot, prost, tâmpit

Declension

Declension of cretin
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative cretin cretinul cretini cretinii
genitive-dative cretin cretinului cretini cretinilor
vocative cretinule cretinilor
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