nincompoop

English

Etymology

Earlier (1676) nicompoop, possibly from Latin non compos mentis (“not of sound mind”). Earliest known use of nincompoop spelling is from 1680.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈnɪn.kəm.puːp/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

nincompoop (plural nincompoops)

1. A silly or foolish person.
   • 1680, Matthew Stevenson, The wits paraphras'd: or, Paraphrase upon paraphrase: In a burlesque on the several late translations of Ovids Epistles ...^[1], page 161:

     Tis such another Nincompoop,
     I sleep, and he begins to droop.
     He sees, yet keeps his Eyes a winking,
     Says nought, but pays it off with thinking.

   • 1694, Thomas D'Urfey, “Part I, Act I, Scene I”, in The Comical History of Don Quixote: As it was Acted at the Queen's Theatre in Dorset-Garden ...^[2], page 6:

     ...Heaven knows the time when? Art not thou asham’d to see me, thou Nincompoop?

   • 1905: Baroness Emmuska Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel [3]

     No wonder that Chauvelin's spies had failed to detect, in the apparently brainless nincompoop, the man whose reckless daring and resourceful ingenuity had baffled the keenest French spies...

Derived terms

• nincompoopery

Synonyms

• (foolish person): dunderhead, fop, fool, imbecile
• See also Wikisaurus:fool

Related terms

• ninny
• noncompos

Translations

silly or foolish person

• Armenian: հիմար (hy) (himar), ապուշ (hy) (apuš), տխմար (hy) (txmar)
• Catalan: ximple (ca), bovo (ca), babau (ca), tonto (ca), fava (ca), panoli (ca), beneit (ca), imbècil (ca), idiota (ca), estúpid (ca)
• Danish: fjols, skvadderhoved, idiot, knallert
• Dutch: lomperd, domoor, stommeling, oetlul
• Finnish: tollo (fi), tolvana (fi), tohelo (fi)
• French: crétin (fr), abruti (fr), demeuré (fr), cornichon (fr), gourde (fr), imbécile (fr), simplet (fr), débile (fr), niais (fr), nigaud (fr), dadais (fr), sot (fr), ravi (fr), benêt (fr), cloche (fr), con (fr), connard (fr), mal cuit (fr), démoulé trop tôt (fr), bercé trop près du mur (fr)
• German: Dummkopf (de) m, Einfaltspinsel (de) m, Trottel (de) m
• Greek: κουτορνίθι (el) (koutorníthi) n
• Hebrew: טפש (he) (tifesh) m, טפשה (he) (tifsha) f

• Icelandic: beinasni (is) m, fábjáni (is) m, einfeldningur (is) m, fáviti (is) m, fífl (is) n
• Italian: cretino (it), imbecille (it), stupido (it), idiota (it), coglione (it)
• Japanese: あんぽんたん, うすらとんかち, おたんちん
• Marathi: अर्धवट (mr) (ardhavat)
• Norwegian: tullebukk (no) m
• Polish: głupiec (pl)
• Russian: дурачок (ru) (duračok)
• Serbo-Croatian: idiot (sh) m, glupan (sh) m, glupko (sh) m, nesposobnjaković (sh) m
• Spanish: bobo (es), soso (es), sosaina (es), tonto (es), memo (es), panoli (es), lila (es), pavitonto (es), pasmarote (es), bendito (es), majadero (es), papanatas (es), primo (es), Juan Lanas (es), imbécil (es), gilipollas (es)
• Swedish: idiot, pucko, dumhuvud, dumbom, flane, fjompa, störding, nöt