moron

See also: Appendix:Variations of "moron"

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔːɹɒn/

  Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɔːɹɒn

• (without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /mo(ː)ɹɒn/, /-ɑn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmoɹɑn/, [ˈmo̞ɹɑn]

Etymology 1

Coined by American psychologist Henry H. Goddard in 1910, from Ancient Greek μωρόν (mōrón), the neuter form of μωρός (mōrós, “foolish, dull”).

Noun

moron (plural morons)

2. (informal, derogatory) A stupid person; an idiot; a fool.

   Synonyms: imbecile, idiot, retard (offensive); see also Thesaurus:fool, Thesaurus:idiot

   • 2024 March 14, Norman Finkelstein, 01:06 from the start, in Norm Finkelstein calls Destiny a fantastic moron / Lex Fridman Podcast‎^[1], Lex Clips:

     Mr. Borelli, Mr. Borelli, with all due respect, you're such a fantastic moron it's terrifying.

4. (psychology, dated, originally) A person of mild mental subnormality in the former classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50–70.

   Synonyms: imbecile, idiot, retard (offensive)

Usage notes

• The current medical term for having an IQ between 50 and 70 is “mild intellectual disability”.

Derived terms

• Baltimoron
• hypermoron
• momo
• moronic
• moron in a hurry
• moronism
• moronity
• moronization
• moronocracy
• submoron
• touron

Related terms

• moronicity
• moronicness
• oxymoron
• sophomore

Descendants

• → French: moron
• → Turkish: moron

Translations

stupid person — see idiot

psychology, dated: person of mild mental subnormality

• Bengali: বোকা (bn) (bōka)
• Bulgarian: слабоумен (bg) m (slaboumen), дебил (bg) m (debil)
• Catalan: imbècil (ca) m or f, retardat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 白痴 (zh) (báichī)

• Danish: debil (da) person
• Dutch: debiel (nl)
• Finnish: lievästi kehitysvammainen (contemporary term), debiili (fi)
• French: attardé (fr), crétin (fr) m, demeuré (fr) m
• Galician: mouco (gl) m, pallouco m, bouto m, babau m, láparo m, doudo m, badío m, marmeco m, barballocas m, favilón m
• German: Schwachsinniger (de) m, Schwachkopf (de) m
• Greek: καθυστερημένος (el) (kathysteriménos)

  Ancient Greek: βλάξ m (bláx)

• Hungarian: gyengeelméjű (hu)
• Indonesian: bahlul (id), bego (id)
• Italian: imbecille (it) m, cretino (it) m, stupido (it) m, deficiente (it) m, babbeo (it) m, idiota (it) m, ritardato (it) m, mongoloide (it) m, squasimodeo m
• Japanese: 低能者 (ていのうしゃ, teinōsha), 間抜け (ja) (まぬけ, manuke), 頓痴気 (とんちき, tonchiki)
• Māori: tūtae tara (Derogatory)
• Polish: debil (pl) m, przygłup (pl), bezmózg, bałwan (pl) m
• Portuguese: retardado (pt), débil mental (pt)
• Russian: деби́л (ru) m (debíl), приду́рок (ru) m (pridúrok), крети́н (ru) m (kretín), отморо́зок (ru) m (otmorózok), моро́н (ru) m (morón) (rare)
• Spanish: retrasado (es) m, retrasada (es) f, morón (es) m (Panamá, Puerto Rico)

person who makes uncool attempts to impress others

• Catalan: imbècil (ca) m or f, subnormal (ca) m or f, retardat, idiota (ca) m or f
• Danish: tåbe c
• Dutch: mogool, mongol (nl)
• Finnish: hölmö (fi), tollo (fi)
• French: andouille (fr) f, débile (fr) m or f, mongol (fr) m
• Galician: parvo (gl) m, paspán (gl) m, pailán m, lores m, babiolo (gl) m, pasmón m, bausán m, buzaco m, arnoia m, pándeo m, miñoto m, balaínzo m, babeco (gl) m, solocho m
• German: Schwachkopf (de) m, Trottel (de) m, Depp (de) m
• Greek: βλαμμένος (el) (vlamménos), κρετίνος (el) m (kretínos)
• Hungarian: hülye (hu)
• Indonesian: sontoloyo (id)
• Portuguese: babaca (pt), otário (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: буда̀ла f

  Latin: budàla (sh) f

• Spanish: subnormal (es) m or f, retrasado (es) m, retardado (es) m, débil mental m or f, imbécil (es) m or f, idiota (es) m or f, baboso (es) m
• Turkish: moron (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} imbecille, ^{(please verify)} idiota
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} cretino (it) m, ^{(please verify)} deficiente (it) m, ^{(please verify)} idiota (it) m, ^{(please verify)} imbecille (it) m, ^{(please verify)} stupido (it) m
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 바보 (ko) (babo) (1,2)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} retardat m, ^{(please verify)} retardată f, ^{(please verify)} tâmpit (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} tâmpită f, ^{(please verify)} imbecil (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} imbecilă (ro) f, ^{(please verify)} idiot (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} idioată (ro) f

Further reading

• Moron (psychology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Coined by American legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin in late 20th c.; by surface analysis, mor(al) +‎ -on. The obvious idea that the homonymy with the usual sense of moron was likely intentional has been supported by some of Dworkin's fellow philosophers.

Noun

moron (plural morons)

2. (philosophy) A hypothetical particle whose existence and configuration can make a moral judgment true. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
   • 2016, Sharon Street, “Chapter 12: Objectivity and Truth: You'd Better Rethink It”, in Russ Shafer-Landau, editor, Oxford Studies in Metaethics‎^[2], volume 11, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 308-309:

     Encouraged by this solution to the puzzle in the case of judgments about our manifest surroundings, one might hope that a similar solution can be offered to the parallel puzzle concerning normative judgments. One example of this solution might be to affirm the existence of what Dworkin calls morons (p. 104)—special moral particles with causal powers—and then to explain why an ability to detect morons tended to promote the reproductive success of ancestors who possessed this ability. The thought is that perhaps an inability to detect these particles led to decreased reproductive success, just as an inability to detect boulders, trees, and lakes did. As his moron terminology suggests, however, Dworkin utterly rejects any solution along these lines. He thinks the idea of morons is absurd (pp. 104-5), and indeed takes the view that normative properties never play a role in our best causal explanations. Moral rightness and wrongness, goodness, normative reasons, value, and so on, in Dworkin's view, are not things with causal powers at all, and it is a misguided test for the existence of these things to ask whether or not they play a role in our best causal explanations (p. 119). As Thomas Nagel has put the point, "Mackie [has argued that] reasons play no role in causal explanations. But it begs the question to assume that this sort of explanatory necessity is the test of reality for values. The claim that certain reasons exist is a normative claim, not a claim about the best causal explanation of anything."²⁵ As we saw earlier, this rejection of the idea that reasons and values are things with causal powers is a distinguishing feature of non-naturalist versions of normative realism in general. I think there is more to be said about this second possible solution to the puzzle than Dworkin's talk of "morons" suggests. Yet in the end, I agree with Dworkin, Nagel, and other non-naturalist realists on this point. Rightness, wrongness, goodness, normative reasons, value, and so on are very different things than trees and boulders, and no plausible causal account will solve the practical/theoretical puzzle. I will not argue for this point here, however; I say more about it elsewhere.²⁶ I mention this second possible solution only to set it aside; in what follows I will assume with Dworkin and other non-naturalist realists that this second solution to the puzzle fails, allowing us to focus on Dworkin's proposed solution.

Anagrams

• Monro, normo-

Dongxiang

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Mongolic *mören (“river, sea”), *müren. Cognate to Mongolian мөрөн (mörön), Buryat мүрэн (müren), Kalmyk мөрн (mörn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /moˈron/

Noun

moron

1. river

References

• Ma Guozhong (马国忠); Chen Yuanlong (陈元龙) (2012), “moron”, in 东乡语汉语词典 [Dongxiang-Chinese Dictionary] (in Chinese), 2nd edition, Lanzhou: 甘肃民族出版社, →ISBN, page 295

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoron/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oron
• Syllabification: mo‧ron

Noun

moron

1. accusative singular of moro

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoron/, [ˈmo̞ro̞n]
• Rhymes: -oron
• Syllabification^(key): mo‧ron
• Hyphenation^(key): mo‧ron

Etymology 1

Interjection

moron (colloquial)

1. alternative form of moro

Further reading

• “moron”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[3] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

Etymology 2

Noun

moron

1. genitive singular of moro

Anagrams

• normo

French

Etymology

English moron, from Ancient Greek μωρός (mōrós, “foolish, dull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.ʁɔ̃/

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

Noun

moron m (plural morons, feminine moronne)

1. (Quebec) moron, idiot

Adjective

moron (feminine moronne, masculine plural morons, feminine plural moronnes)

1. (Quebec, informal) stupid

   Que t'es moron, toi! ― Gosh, you're stupid!

Middle English

Noun

moron

1. (Lancashire) alternative form of morwen

Romanian

Noun

moron m (plural moroni)

1. alternative form of morun

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	moron	moronul	moroni	moronii
genitive-dative	moron	moronului	moroni	moronilor
vocative	moronule		moronilor

Turkish

Etymology

From English moron, from Ancient Greek μωρός (mōrós, “slow, dull, foolish, stupid”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [moɾˈon]
• Hyphenation: mo‧ron

Adjective

moron

1. fool, stupid, idiot, moronic

Noun

moron (definite accusative moronu, plural moronlar)

1. moron

   Bir morona aşık oldum. ― I fell in love with a moron.

Declension

Declension of moron

	singular	plural
nominative	moron	moronlar
definite accusative	moronu	moronları
dative	morona	moronlara
locative	moronda	moronlarda
ablative	morondan	moronlardan
genitive	moronun	moronların

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔrɔn/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmoːrɔn/, /ˈmɔrɔn/
• Rhymes: -ɔrɔn

Etymology 1

From Old English moran, plural of more (“edible root, carrot, parsnip”), from Proto-West Germanic *morhā, from Proto-Germanic *murhǭ.

Noun

moron (plural, singular moronen f)

1. carrots

Derived terms

• dyfrforon (“marshwort”)
• lloerforon (“mountain stone parsley, moon carrots”)
• moron arfor (“sea carrots”)
• moron Awstralia (“Australian carrots”)
• moron melynion (“skirrets”)
• moron pigog (“prickly parsnips”)
• moron y dŵr (“water parsnips”)
• moron y gwartheg (“cow parsnips, hogweed”)
• moron y maes (“wild carrots”)
• moron yr ardd (“garden carrots”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of moron

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
moron	foron	unchanged	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Etymology 2

Noun

moron

1. nasal mutation of boron

Mutation

Mutated forms of boron

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
boron	foron	moron	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “moron”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies