Clodde

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A compact lump of soil or clay, often broken up with a spade or hoe ; a dull, slow-witted person who lacks sensitivity or intelligence
2. A heavy clump of earth turned up in digging ; an oafish, unimaginative individual regarded as foolish or insensitive
3. A rough mass of dirt or turf lying on the ground ; a dim-witted and tactless person, often mocked for being thick-headed

Etymology: Before it named a clumsy or dim-witted person, this word meant a lump of something, usually earth or clay. Old English "clodd" meant a mass or clump, and the same root gives us "clot," which suggests a thickened lump of blood or cream. The word is a native English one, not a borrowing from Latin or French, so its history runs through the Germanic roots of the language itself. The sense of a dull person developed from the lump sense. A clod was a heavy, shapeless thing, and English speakers began using the image for someone who seemed similarly lumpish in mind. The idea shows up in compounds such as "clodpole" and "clodpate," in which "clod" describes a thick-headed person. "Clodhopper," for a clumsy rustic, follows the same pattern.

Synonyms: clod, lump, clump, chunk