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🇩🇪German Source WordCode: DE

Kretin

Pronunciation / Transliteration: kreˈtiːn

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Cretin/ˈkriː.tɪn/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #25400 frequency
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🇩🇪 Example Sentence in German:

"Er benahm sich wie ein Kretin, als er das Treffen vergaß."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A person who is considered to be foolish or stupid.

    "He acted like a cretin when he forgot the meeting."
  2. 2

    A person suffering from a congenital condition resulting in physical and mental disabilities.

    "In the past, cretins were often marginalized in society."
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Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Synonyms (3)
Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the French dialectal word 'cretin', which traces its roots to the Latin 'christianus' meaning 'Christian' (originally denoting human beings, implying even those with severe mental disabilities were human and Christian). By the 18th century, it became associated in Alpine regions with congenital iodine deficiency syndrome characterized by physical stunting and cognitive impairment, eventually evolving in modern English into a derogatory term for a stupid or foolish person.

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