different between chump vs nitwit

English

Etymology

Compare Icelandic kumbr (“a chopping”), English chop.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??mp/
• Rhymes: -?mp

Noun

chump (plural chumps)

1. (colloquial, derogatory) An incompetent person, a blockhead; a loser.

2. (colloquial, derogatory) A gullible person; a sucker; someone easily taken advantage of; someone lacking common sense.
3. The thick end, especially of a piece of wood or of a joint of meat.

Synonyms

• (an unintelligent person): blockhead, idiot, dope, dolt, dunce, dummy
• (a gullible person): gull, sucker, dupe, sap, dummy, patsy, pigeon
• See also Thesaurus:dupe

Derived terms

• chump change
• chump chop
• off one's chump
• one pump chump

Translations

Verb

chump (third-person singular simple present chumps, present participle chumping, simple past and past participle chumped)

1. Dated form of chomp.

English

Etymology

First attested in the 1910s in the US Northeast. Likely from German nit, dialectal form of nichts (“nothing”), or Yiddish ???? (nit), dialectal form of ????? (nisht, “no”), although some dictionaries give the alternative etymology nit (“louse egg; something very small”) +? wit.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?tw?t/

Noun

nitwit (plural nitwits)

1. (informal) A scatterbrained or stupid person.
   • 1918, State Bar Association of Connecticut, Annual Report, page 82

     If you don't remember you are a nitwit. If you do answer, well, you know what the penalty is for perjury.

   • 1921, Emmett Campbell Hall, "Need a Hero be a Nitwit?", The Editor, page 58

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:fool

Translations