asinine

asinine

English

WOTD – 9 January 2008

Etymology

From Latin asinīnus (“of a donkey or ass”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈæs.ɪ.naɪn/, /ˈæs.ə.naɪn/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Adjective

asinine (comparative more asinine, superlative most asinine)

1. Very foolish; failing to exercise intelligence or judgement or rationality.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/2/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎:

     They danced on silently, softly. Their feet played tricks to the beat of the tireless measure, that exquisitely asinine blare which is England's punishment for having lost America.

   Synonyms: foolish, obstinate

2. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of donkeys.
   • 1881, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, The Ingenious Knight: Don Quixote de la Mancha (page 84)

     Don Quixote had put himself but a little way ayont the village of Don Diego, when he encountered two apparent priests, or students, and two husbandmen, who came mounted on four asinine beasts.

   Synonym: donkeyish

Synonyms

• asinary (obsolete)
• assy (informal)

Derived terms

• asininely
• asinineness
• asininity

 

Related terms

• asinicide

Translations

failing to exercise intelligence or judgment

Arabic: أَبْلَه‎ m (ʾablah), سَخِيف‎ m (saḵīf) Chinese: Mandarin: 愚蠢 (zh) (yúchǔn) Danish: dum (da), torsket, enfoldig Dutch: oerdom (nl), achterlijk (nl) Finnish: typerä (fi), aasimainen (fi) French: asinin (fr) m, stupide (fr) m or f German: dumm (de), dümmlich (de), dämlich (de), töricht (de) Japanese: 愚か (ja) (oroka) Macedonian: глуп m (glup) Norwegian: Bokmål: toskete, enfoldig (no), stupid (no) Persian: احمقانه‎ (fa) (ahmaqâne) Polish: debilny m Portuguese: asinino Russian: глу́пый (ru) (glúpyj), деби́льный (ru) (debílʹnyj), осли́ный (ru) (oslínyj) Spanish: estúpido (es) Swedish: åsnelik, enfaldig (sv)

of or relating to a donkey

Arabic: حِمَارِيّ‎ m (ḥimāriyy) Bulgarian: магарешки (magareški) Dutch: ezelachtig (nl) Finnish: aasi- (fi), aasin- (fi), aasimainen (fi) French: asinin (fr) Italian: asinino m Latin: asinīnus Macedonian: мага́решки m (magáreški) Norwegian: Bokmål: eselaktig Polish: ośli (pl) m Portuguese: asinino, asnal (pt) Romanian: măgăresc (ro) Russian: осли́ный (ru) (oslínyj) Spanish: asnal (es), asinino (es) Swedish: åsnelik

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.zi.nin/
• Homophone: asinines

Adjective

asinine

1. feminine singular of asinin

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Italian

Adjective

asinine

1. feminine plural of asinino

Anagrams

• insanie

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Latin

Adjective

asinīne

1. vocative masculine singular of asinīnus