different between clown vs moron

English

Alternative forms

• clowne, cloyne (obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier clowne, cloyne (“man of rustic or coarse manners, boor, peasant”), likely of North Germanic origin, akin to Icelandic klunni (“clumsy fellow, klutz”). Compare also North Frisian klönne (“clumsy fellow, klutz”), Dutch kluns (“clumsy fellow”). Unlikely from Latin col?nus (“colonist, farmer”), although learned awareness of this term may have influenced semantic development.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kloun, IPA^(key): /kla?n/
• Rhymes: -a?n

Noun

clown (plural clowns)

1. A slapstick performance artist often associated with a circus and usually characterized by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a brightly colored wig.
   • 2008, Lich King, "Black Metal Sucks", Toxic Zombie Onslaught.

2. A person who acts in a silly fashion.
3. A stupid person.
4. (obsolete) A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an illbred person; a boor.
   • 1700, Timothy Nourse, Campania Foelix, pp. 15–16

     […] three things ought always to be kept under: a mastiff dog, a stone horse and a clown; and really I think a snarling, cross-grained clown to be the most unlucky beast of three.

5. (obsolete) One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl; a yokel.

   • The clown, the child of nature, without guile.

   • August 25, 1759, Samuel Johnson, The Idler No. 71

     He […] began to descend to familiar questions, endeavouring to accommodate his discourse to the grossness of rustic understandings. The clowns soon found that he did not know wheat from rye, and began to despise him; one of the boys, by pretending to show him a bird's nest, decoyed him into a ditch; […]

Synonyms

• (person who acts in a silly fashion): buffoon, fool

Derived terms

• clown beetle
• class clown
• clown doctor
• clownfish
• clownish

Translations

Verb

clown (third-person singular simple present clowns, present participle clowning, simple past and past participle clowned)

1. (intransitive) To act in a silly or playful fashion.
2. (transitive, African-American Vernacular) To ridicule.
   • 2002, Vibe (volume 10, number 11, page 62)

     The show Dismissed was one of my favorites, because I like to see people get clowned.

   • 2017, Darrell Smith, Miracle Baby

     All my comrades were laughing and clowning me, but shit, that didn't stop me from talking more shit.

Derived terms

• clown about (British)
• clown around

See also

• coulrophobia
• jester
• jackpudding

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl?u?n/
• Hyphenation: clown
• Rhymes: -?u?n

Noun

clown m (plural clowns, diminutive clowntje n)

1. clown (entertainer)

Derived terms

• circusclown
• clownsneus
• clownvis

See also

• august
• harlekijn
• paljas
• pierrot
• nar
• witte clown
• zot

French

Etymology

From English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klun/
• Homophone: clowns

Noun

clown m (plural clowns)

1. clown (performer)
2. clown (person who acts in a comic way)

Synonyms

• (performer): (Louisiana) macaque

Further reading

• “clown” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Noun

clown m (invariable)

1. clown (artist)

   Synonym: pagliaccio

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klawn/

Noun

clown m pers

1. (comedy) Alternative spelling of klaun.

Declension

Derived terms

• (noun) clownada
• (adjective) clownowski

Further reading

• clown in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• clown in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Alternative forms

• clon

Etymology

From English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?klon/, [?klõn]

Noun

clown m (plural clownes)

1. clown (circus performance artist)

   Synonym: payaso

Swedish

Etymology

From English clown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kla?n/

Noun

clown c

1. clown

Declension

Synonyms

• pajas

Derived terms

• clownaktig
• clownfisk

References

• clown in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl?u?n/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English clown.

Noun

clown m (plural clowniaid)

1. clown

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• closwn (colloquial, first-person singular conditional)

Verb

clown

1. first-person plural present/future of cloi
2. first-person singular imperfect/conditional of cloi
3. (literary) first-person plural imperative of cloi

Mutation

English

Etymology

Coined by psychologist Henry H. Goddard in 1910, from Ancient Greek ????? (m?rós, “foolish, dull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m????n/
• Rhymes: -????n

Noun

moron (plural morons)

1. (informal, derogatory) A stupid person; an idiot; a fool.
2. (dated, originally) A person of mild mental subnormality in the former classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50–70.

   Synonym: feeble-minded

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• Thesaurus:fool
• Thesaurus:idiot

Derived terms

• Baltimoron
• moronic
• moronicity
• moronism
• moronocracy

Related terms

• oxymoron
• sophomore

Translations

Further reading

• Moron (psychology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Monro, normo-

Esperanto

Noun

moron

1. accusative singular of moro

French

Etymology

From English, from Ancient Greek ????? (m?rós, “foolish, dull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?.???/

Noun

moron m (plural morons, feminine moronne)

1. (Quebec) moron, idiot

Adjective

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

1. (Quebec, informal) stupid

Middle English

Noun

moron

1. Alternative form of morwe

Romanian

Noun

moron m (plural moroni)

1. Alternative form of morun

Declension

Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mo??on]
• Hyphenation: mo?ron

Adjective

moron (comparative daha moron, superlative en moron)

1. fool, stupid, idiot, moronic

Noun

moron (definite accusative moronu, plural moronlar)

1. a moron

   Bir morona a??k oldum. — I fell in love with a moron.

Declension

Welsh

Etymology

From Old English moran, plural of more (“edible root, carrot, parsnip”), from Proto-West Germanic *morh?, from Proto-Germanic *murh?, from Proto-Indo-European *mr?k- (“edible herb, root, tuber”).

Noun

moron f pl (singulative moronen)

1. carrots

Mutation

Further reading

• "moron" in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (A Dictionary of the Welsh Language). University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies, 2014.