Pratt

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Informal British slang for a silly, foolish or annoying person who behaves stupidly or embarrassingly
2. A British insult aimed at someone regarded as an idiot, a fool or a contemptible nuisance
3. Chiefly British slang describing a clueless, irritating individual whose conduct is considered foolish

Etymology: The word "pratt" has a long, unglamorous history that begins with a body part. Its Old English ancestor, "prætt," meant the buttocks, and the same sense survives in the word "prat" today, which people sometimes use for the rump. The insult came later, and it grew out of that physical meaning rather than out of any idea of foolishness. The leap from backside to fool is one English speakers made without much fuss. A "prat" in the sense of the bottom became a way of describing a person as a figurative rear end, and by extension a silly or contemptible one. Because "pratt" and "prat" are essentially the same word, the spelling with two t's is simply a variant form used in the insult sense.