different between airhead vs nincompoop

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???h?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /????(h)?d/
• Hyphenation: air?head

Etymology 1

From air +? head (“foremost, topmost, or leading part”), sense 1 (“area of hostile territory seized for use as an airbase”) by analogy with beachhead and bridgehead.

Noun

airhead (plural airheads)

1. (military) An area of hostile territory that has been seized for use as an airbase to ensure the further safe landing of troops and materiel.
2. (by extension) A (usually temporary) landing area for aircraft for supplying a non-military operation.
3. (mining, archaic) Alternative form of air-head (“a horizontal channel providing ventilation in a mine.”)

Coordinate terms

• (military): beachhead, bridgehead, railhead

Translations

Etymology 2

From air +? head, in the sense of having one’s head filled with air instead of a brain; compare empty-headed.

Noun

airhead (plural airheads)

1. (originally US, informal, derogatory) A foolish, silly, or unintelligent person.

   Synonyms: airling, bimbo, bubblehead; see also Thesaurus:idiot

Hyponyms

• dumb blonde

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• airhead on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• airhead (subculture) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• airhead (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

Origin uncertain; the first element nincom- is possibly from the name Nicholas or Nicodemus (compare French nicodème (“foolish or gullible person”), from the Pharisee named Nicodemus mentioned in the Bible who asks Jesus seemingly naive questions: see John 3:1–21), or from ninny (“foolish or silly person”), while the second element -poop could be derived from poop (“(obsolete) to cheat, deceive, fool”). The English lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) suggested that the first element might be from Latin non compos (mentis) (“not of sound mind”), but the Oxford English Dictionary notes that this does not correspond with early forms of the word from the 16th century such as nickumpoop and nicompoop.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n??k?mpu?p/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n??k?m?pup/, /?n?n-/
• Hyphenation: nin?com?poop

Noun

nincompoop (plural nincompoops)

1. (derogatory) A foolish or silly person. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: dunderhead, fool, imbecile, nitwit, gaby, hammerhead; see also Thesaurus:fool

Alternative forms

• nickumpoop, nicompoop, nincumpoop (obsolete)

Derived terms

• nincompoopish
• nincompoopism
• nincompoopery

Translations

References