Eejit

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A silly, foolish, or inept person, often used as a mild insult in Irish and Scottish English
2. Someone who acts stupidly or without good sense, a mildly derogatory term common in Ireland
3. A daft or idiotic individual, used affectionately or scornfully to describe a person who has made a mistake

Etymology: Hiberno-English and Scottish English speakers say "idiot" in a way that sounds like "eejit", and the spelling simply follows that pronunciation. The word is therefore a dialect respelling of a very old term rather than a separate coinage, and its meaning has stayed close to that of "idiot": a foolish or silly person, often said with affection or mild exasperation. Because "eejit" is spelled to show how it sounds, the familiar word hides a shift in pronunciation that happened in these dialects. "Idiot" itself comes from Greek "idiōtēs", a private individual or layman, and from that sense it came to mean an uneducated person and eventually a fool. "Eejit" carries that same chain of meaning, now in the voice of Irish and Scottish speech.

Synonyms: idiot, fool, numpty, dolt

Antonyms: genius, sage