dunce

See also: dūncè

English

Etymology

1530, named after John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308).[1]

Scotus was ironically a well-known Scottish thinker. His followers, however, opposed the philosophers of the Renaissance, and thus "dunce" was first used to describe someone rejecting new knowledge in 1530; later, any stupid person.[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /dʌns/
Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -ʌns

Noun

dunce (plural dunces)

An unintelligent person.
Synonyms: idiot; see also Thesaurus:idiot
- c. 1713, Jonathan Swift, “Thoughts on Various Subjects”, in The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, volume 5:
  When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.
- 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XXX:
  [...] Dunce, / Dotard, a-dozing at the very nonce, / After a life spent training for the sight!

Derived terms

dunce cap
duncedom
dunce hat
duncehood
duncelike
duncely
duncish/dunceish

Translations

unintelligent person — See also translations at idiot

Crimean Tatar: cail
Esperanto: malklerulo
Finnish: aasi (fi), typerys (fi), tyhmä (fi)
French: cancre (fr) m or f
Galician: túzaro (gl) m, bestello m, trepeiro m, tarulo m, tamarugo m, rude m
German: Dummkopf (de) m, Schwachkopf (de) m, Dämel m, Einfaltspinsel (de) m, Dummerjan m
Icelandic: tossi m
Latin: barcala m, bārō m
Plautdietsch: Dommajon m
Polish: nieuk (pl) m, antytalent m
Russian: не́уч (ru) m (néuč), идио́т (ru) m (idiót), балда́ (ru) m (baldá), остоло́п (ru) m (ostolóp), тупи́ца (ru) m (tupíca)
Spanish: tonto de capirote m
Swedish: dumhuvud (sv) n, dummerjöns (sv) c
Welsh: dỳns m, twpsyn m, penbwl (cy) m

References

“dunce”, Wordorigins.org, Dave Wilton, Sunday, June 11, 2006.