cretin
UK /ˈkɹɛtɪn/ · US /ˈkɹiːtɪn/ noun, proper noun
Forms cretins
- noun (archaic, medicine) A person who fails to develop mentally and physically due to a congenital hypothyroidism.
- noun (by extension, derogatory) An idiot.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
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.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [F. crétin; of uncertain origin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cretin”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details