Is it bad to call someone a cretin?

Is it bad to call someone a cretin?

Cretin (n), “A stupid, vulgar, or insensitive person.” It’s ironic that cretin is used to describe an insensitive person, because its origin is terribly insensitive. Cretin, like spaz, is an insult that evolved from a very real and very dreadful medical condition.

What’s another word for cretin?

In this page you can discover 38 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for cretin, like: retard, fool, idiot, imbecile, moron, twit, simpleton, turkey, deformed, jackass and nincompoop.

What did cretin originally mean?

original meaning of ‘cretin’: ‘Christian’, ‘human being’

What is the medical term for cretin?

Acretin, from the French chrétien (Christian), is defined in Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary (1) as “one who is human despite deformities”. The medical definition of cretinism is untreated congenital hypothyroidism, with or without a goiter.

What does it mean when you call someone a rube?

1 : an awkward unsophisticated person : rustic. 2 : a naive or inexperienced person.

Where did the insult jerk come from?

jerk (n.) 1935, “tedious and ineffectual person,” Amer. Eng. carnival slang, perhaps from jerkwater town (1878), where a steam locomotive crew had to take on boiler water from a trough or a creek because there was no water tank.

What is the opposite of cretin?

Noun. ▲ Opposite of an inhumanly cruel or wicked person. angel. paragon.

Why is cretin a bad word?

Cretins. Though most people use the word “cretin” to refer to someone that is “insensitive” or “stupid,” Merriam-Webster writes that the word used to refer to those who lives in the French-Swiss Alps, and were affected with hypothyroidism.

Is Cretan a bad word?

Today “cretin” is usually used as a derogatory slang term for someone perceived as being stupid, foolish or incompetent, equivalent to “moron,” “idiot” or “nitwit” (“I had to get clearance from some cretin in Human Resources to take the day off.”). The origins of “cretin,” however, lie in a true human tragedy.

What is the most common cause of cretinism?

Congenital iodine deficiency syndrome (formerly known as cretinism) is a medical condition present at birth marked by impaired physical and mental development, due to insufficient thyroid hormone (hypothyroidism) often caused by insufficient dietary iodine during pregnancy.

How is cretin pronounced?

Break ‘cretin’ down into sounds: [KRET] + [UHN] – say it out loud and exaggerate the sounds until you can consistently produce them.

What does the name Creten mean?

cre·tin (krēt’n) n. Often Offensive 1. A person with cretinism. 2. A person considered to be foolish or unintelligent. [French crétin, from Franco-Provençal, person with cretinism (formerly common in Alpine valleys because of insufficient iodine in the local diet), from Vulgar Latin *christiānus, Christian, human being, poor fellow, from Latin

What is the adjective for Cretin?

Adjective crétin ( feminine singular crétine , masculine plural crétins , feminine plural crétines ) ( derogatory , offensive ) cretin ( stupid; idiotic etc. )

What is a moral Cretin?

Moral Cretin A Cretin is someone with physical and mental underdevelopment. A moral cretin does not understand Morals or their basis. Cretin is a word that has slipped off the Euphemism Treadmill, the reality that the sensitive, the caring like to use, soft words for hard things. Then the rest of us take them up so they invent more.

What is the plural of Cretin?

cretin (plural cretins) (pathology) A person who fails to develop mentally and physically due to a congenital hypothyroidism. [from 1779]