idiot

Only an idiot would fail this exam.

(derogatory) A person of low general intelligence.

We think that people who cycle without a helmet are idiots.

(derogatory) A person who makes stupid decisions; a fool.

Idiots were thought to be peculiarly under the care of the Deity, and it was believed that those who treated them kindly would be blessed.

1896, Clifton Johnson, “Folks”, in What They Say in New England (non-fiction), Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Lee and Shepard Publishers, page 105:

It is an offence for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman whom he knows to be an idiot or imbecile.

1956, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 7”, in Sexual Offences Act 1956, page 2:

(obsolete, medicine, psychology) A person of the lowest intellectual standing, a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal four-year-old; a person with an IQ below 30.

idiots (plural)
idjit (alternative nonstandard)
idget (alternative nonstandard)
eejit (alternative Irish Scottish nonstandard)

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 450a. Absence of intellect

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 499. Imbecility

идио́т

From Middle English idiote, ydiote, from Old French idiote (later idiot), from Latin idiota, from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “a private citizen, one who has no professional knowledge, layman”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, pertaining to oneself, private”). Doublet of idiota.


idiot

en-adj

idiot (comparative more idiot, superlative most idiot)

more idiot (comparative)
most idiot (superlative)
idjit (alternative nonstandard)
idget (alternative nonstandard)
eejit (alternative Irish Scottish nonstandard)