Cully

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Characterizing a person who is easily deceived or tricked, often used to refer to someone naive or gullible
2. Describing an individual who has been foolishly led to believe in something misleading, typically showing a lack of skepticism
3. Referring to someone who falls victim to scams or deceit due to an overly trusting nature and lack of critical judgment

Etymology: "Cully" is a noun whose origin is genuinely unsettled. One suggestion is that it is a shortened form of "cullion," an older English word for a base or contemptible fellow, which would fit its sense of a gullible person being easily taken in. Another possibility links it to the Irish "cuallaí," meaning "companion," though how that connection would have worked is unclear. The word's meaning has its own shape. Its sense of someone who is easily fooled points to a dupe rather than a villain, so the drift from "contemptible" to "gullible" would have been a move from insult toward mockery of naivety. That shift is consistent with the cullion theory, but it has not been firmly established.

Synonyms: dupe, victim, sucker, fool, mark

Antonyms: expert, winner, sharper