idiot

I-dee-uht/ˈɪdiət/

3 meanings of idiot

1
foolnouncountable
A stupid or foolish person, or one who acts without sense.
Whoever approved that budget without checking the figures is an idiot.
She called him an idiot for putting all his savings into one risky stock.
UsageA fairly mild insult, often teasing between friends (you idiot), but still rude when aimed at a stranger or a boss.
Similarfool, moron, imbecile, halfwit, dope
Oppositegenius
Note
The everyday insult can attack someone's intelligence, but it is just as often aimed at one foolish choice: someone who cycles without a helmet may be called an idiot whatever their intelligence.
2
foolishadjectivecolloquial
Foolish or stupid in nature.
His idiot scheme to get rich quick fell apart within a week.
They wasted hours on some idiot plan that never had a chance.
UsageUsed before a noun: an idiot idea, some idiot plan.
Similarstupid, foolish, dumb, harebrained, moronic
Oppositeclever, sensible, smart, brilliant
3
lowest IQnounoffensiveobsolete
In former medical classification, a person of the lowest grade of intellectual disability, judged unable to develop beyond the mental age of a toddler, with an IQ below about 25 to 30.
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, Sexual Offences Act 1956
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”
Note
A grading term from the era when medicine ranked intellectual disability in tiers, with idiot at the bottom and imbecile and moron above it. It survives only in historical writing and old legal language, often in the pair "idiot or imbecile." Clifton Johnson's What They Say in New England (1896) records an older folk view of idiots as under divine care. Applied to a person with an intellectual disability, it is now offensive; the word lives on as the everyday insult.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
Idiot was the lowest category in a historical classification of intellectual disability, below imbecile and moron. en.wikipedia.org
The expression "idiot or imbecile" occurs in old legal language. publications.parliament.uk
Clifton Johnson collected What They Say in New England. en.wikisource.org
What They Say in New England was first published in 1896. en.wikipedia.org
Johnson's book records a folk belief that idiots were under divine care. en.wikisource.org

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Origin

Ancient Greek ídios meant "one's own, private," and from it came idiṓtēs, a private person or layman without professional knowledge. Latin took this as idiota, Old French as idiote (later idiot), and Middle English as idiote.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

Ancient Greek ídios meant "one's own, private." en.wiktionary.org
Idiṓtēs was derived from ídios. en.wiktionary.org
Idiṓtēs meant a private person or layman lacking professional knowledge. en.wikipedia.org
Latin borrowed Greek idiṓtēs as idiota. en.wiktionary.org
Old French borrowed Latin idiota as idiote, later idiot. en.wiktionary.org
Middle English borrowed Old French idiote as idiote. en.wiktionary.org