cretin
pronunciation
How to pronounce cretin in British English:
UK [ˈkretɪn]
How to pronounce cretin in American English:
US [ˈkritn]
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- Noun:
- a person of subnormal intelligence
Word Origin
- cretin
- cretin: [18] In the Swiss-French dialect of the high Alps the term creitin or crestin (their version of christian) was applied to people suffering from mental handicap and stunted growth – the notion being to emphasize that despite their abnormalities, such people were nevertheless as much human beings as any other ‘Christian’. The word was adopted (via French crétin) as a clinical term for someone suffering from dwarfism and mental retardation as a result of a congenital thyroid deficiency, and was subsequently broadened out, towards the end of the 19th century, as a general disparaging term for a ‘fool’.=> christian
- cretin (n.)
- 1779, from French crétin (18c.), from Alpine dialect crestin, "a dwarfed and deformed idiot" of a type formerly found in families in the Alpine lands, a condition caused by a congenital deficiency of thyroid hormones, from Vulgar Latin *christianus "a Christian," a generic term for "anyone," but often with a sense of "poor fellow." Related: Cretinism (1801).
Example
- 1. But she still makes me feel like a cretin .
- 2. Why did you do that , you cretin ?
- 3. Research on the diagnosis standard of mental retardation in diagnosing the sub cretin .
- 4. You cretin ! What do you mean ' feel guilty ' ?
- 5. Mr berlusconi ridiculed mr tremonti , who is trusted by markets , as someone who " thinks he 's a genius and believes that everyone else is a cretin " .