gullible

gullible

English

Etymology

Either gull +‎ -ible, or from dialectal Middle English gull (“newly hatched bird”), perhaps from Old Norse gulr, from the hue of its down.[1]

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌlɪbl̩/

  • Audio (UK)

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Adjective

gullible (comparative more gullible, superlative most gullible)

1. Easily deceived or duped; naive, easily cheated or fooled.

   Andrew is so gullible, the way he still believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman at the age of fourteen.

   Synonyms: fleeceable, green, naif, naive; see also Thesaurus:gullible

Derived terms

• gullibility
• gullibly

 

Translations

easily deceived or duped, naive

Arabic: سَاذَج‎ m (sāḏaj) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: даве́рлівы (be) (davjérlivy), легкаве́рны (ljehkavjérny) Bulgarian: доверчи́в (bg) (doverčív), наи́вен (bg) (naíven), лекове́рен (bg) (lekovéren) Catalan: ingenu (ca) m, albat (ca) m, càndid (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 容易輕信的／容易轻信的 (róngyì qīngxìn de), 輕信別人的／轻信别人的, 輕信別人的／轻信别人的 (qīngxìn biérén de) Czech: důvěřivý, naivní (cs), lehkověrný Danish: godtroende, enfoldig, naiv Dutch: naïef (nl), lichtgelovig (nl), goedgelovig (nl) Esperanto: kredema, naiva (eo) Estonian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: herkkäuskoinen (fi), sinisilmäinen (fi), hyväuskoinen (fi) French: crédule (fr), naïf (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: einfältig (de), leichtgläubig (de), naiv (de), gutgläubig (de) Greek: εύπιστος (el) m (éfpistos), αφελής (el) m (afelís) Hebrew: פֶּתִי‎ (he) m (péti) Hungarian: hiszékeny (hu), naiv (hu), becsapható, rászedhető, átejthető Icelandic: trúgjarn, auðtrúa Italian: credulone (it) Japanese: please add this translation if you can Khmer: ឆោត (km) (chaot) Korean: please add this translation if you can Latin: crēdulus Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Luxembourgish: naiv (lb), liichtgleeweg, topeg Macedonian: лековерен (lekoveren) Maori: tūpatokore Norwegian: Bokmål: godtroende (no), lettlurt, naiv (no) Nynorsk: godtruande, lettlurt, naiv Occitan: creserèl (oc), credul (oc) Polish: naiwny (pl), łatwowierny (pl) Portuguese: crédulo (pt) Russian: дове́рчивый (ru) (dovérčivyj), простоду́шный (ru) (prostodúšnyj), наи́вный (ru) (naívnyj), легкове́рный (ru) (lexkovérnyj) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ла̏кове̄ран, ла̏ковје̄ран Roman: lȁkovēran (sh), lȁkovjēran Slovak: dôverčivý, naivný, ľahkoverný Spanish: crédulo (es), cándido (es), ingenuo (es), engañadizo m Swedish: lättlurad (sv) Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: saf (tr), naif (tr) Ukrainian: дові́рливий (dovírlyvyj), легкові́рний (lehkovírnyj) Vietnamese: cả tin (vi)

Noun

gullible (plural gullibles)

1. A gullible person; someone easily fooled or tricked.
   • 1991, Guy Endore, Babouk: Voices of Resistance (page 70)

     They pictured to these gullibles the unearthly delights that were to be enjoyed as servants of the Spaniards. But such tricks could not last, for Cuba was too close to Saint Domingue, and news of the real conditions leaked across the windward passage and were bruited about.

   • 1995, Sagan, Carl, “The Most Precious Thing”, in The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark‎, First edition, New York: Random House, →ISBN, LCCN 95-34076, OCLC 676826053, page 5:

     Spurious accounts that snare the gullible are readily available. Skeptical treatments are much harder to find.

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “gullible”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• bluegill