Dumb

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /dʌm/

Definitions

1. Showing a lack of mental sharpness or understanding ; unable to produce spoken words
2. Having poor reasoning or comprehension skills ; silent or mute, especially temporarily
3. Displaying low intelligence or comprehension ; restrained from speaking or speechless

Etymology: Old English "dumb" meant only "unable to speak," and for centuries that was its whole job. A "dumb" person was mute, and "dumb" animals were animals that could not talk. The sense of stupidity did not appear until the 19th century, which is surprisingly late for a word this old. The root goes back to Proto-Germanic "dumbaz," meaning "dull" or "dumb," and further to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure." The connection between silence and darkness is an old one: both shut something down or hide it from view. Related words in German ("dumm"), Dutch ("dom") and Swedish ("dum") share the same root and all moved toward "stupid" in the same period. That later shift likely owes something to German and Dutch influence, since those languages used their cognates for "stupid" early on. English then followed, so a word originally about being unable to speak came to mean being unable to think.

Synonyms: stupid, foolish

Antonyms: smart, intelligent