imbecile - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Etymology
From Middle French imbécile, from Latin imbēcillus (“weak, feeble”), literally “without a staff”.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪmbəˈsiːl/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɪmbəsɪl/, /ˈɪmbəsəl/
Noun
imbecile (plural imbeciles)
- (obsolete) A person with limited mental capacity who can perform tasks and think only like a young child, in medical circles meaning a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal five- to seven-year-old child.
1956, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 7”, in Sexual Offences Act 1956[1], page 2:
It is an offence for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman whom he knows to be an idiot or imbecile.
- (derogatory) A fool, an idiot.
2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:
“A rat picked up a drink can and threw it at me?” yelled Mr Big.
“A big rat, guv’nor? One of them super-rats?” suggested Thumbs.
“It landed on my head, you imbecile!”
Usage notes
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:idiot
Derived terms
- imbecilic (adjective)
- imbecility (noun)
- imbecilification
Translations
person with limited mental capacity
- Catalan: imbècil (ca) m or f
- Dutch: imbeciel (nl) m
- Finnish: imbesilli (fi)
- French: imbécile (fr) m or f
- German: Zurückgebliebener m, Behinderter (de) m
- Greek: ηλίθιος (el) m (ilíthios)
- Ancient Greek: βλάξ m (bláx)
- Italian: tarato (it)
- Khmer: មនុស្សល្ងីល្ងើ (mɔnuh lŋii)
- Latvian: imbecils
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: imbesil m
- Polish: imbecyl (pl) m
- Portuguese: imbecil (pt) m or f
- Romanian: imbecil (ro)
- Russian: имбеци́л (ru) m (imbecíl), слабоу́мный (ru) m (slaboúmnyj)
- Spanish: imbécil (es)
- Tagalog: tulala
- Turkish: embesil (tr), budala (tr)
- Vietnamese: người khờ dại
fool
- Catalan: imbècil (ca) m or f
- Danish: tåbe c, fjols n, idiot (da) c, kraftidiot c, dumrian c, fæ (da) c, imbecil
- Dutch: imbeciel (nl) m
- Faroese: býttlingur m
- Finnish: imbesilli (fi)
- French: imbécile (fr) m or f
- German: Idiot (de) m, Dummkopf (de)
- Greek: ηλίθιος (el) m (ilíthios), βλάκας (el) m (vlákas), ανόητος (el) m (anóitos)
- Indonesian: bodoh (id), bego (id), tolol (id)
- Japanese: ばか (ja) (baka)
- Khmer: អាភ្លើ (aa pləə)
- Latvian: imbecils, stulbs, muļķis (lv) m, muļķe f
- Luxembourgish: Dräibiz (lb) m
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: imbesil m
- Ottoman Turkish: طوی (toy)
- Polish: imbecyl (pl) m, głupiec (pl) m
- Portuguese: imbecil (pt) m or f
- Russian: дура́к (ru) m (durák), ду́ра (ru) f (dúra)
- Slovak: please add this translation if you can
- Spanish: imbécil (es)
- Tagalog: tulala
- Turkish: embesil (tr), budala (tr), ahmak (tr), aptal (tr)
Adjective
imbecile (comparative more imbecile, superlative most imbecile)
- (dated) Destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; especially, mentally weak.
- hospitals for the imbecile and insane
1899 April, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MII, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part III (Conclusion), page 647:
And then that imbecile crowd down on the deck started their little fun, and I could see nothing more for smoke.