different between daft vs gormless

English

Etymology

From Middle English dafte, defte (“gentle; having good manners; humble, modest; awkward; dull; boorish”), from Old English dæfte (“accommodating; gentle, meek, mild”),, from Proto-West Germanic *daft? (“fitting, suitable”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *d?h?eb?- (“fitting; to fit together”).

Compare silly which originally meant “blessed; good, innocent; pitiful; weak”, but now means “laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance; mentally simple, foolish”.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??ft/
• (UK, General American) enPR: d?ft, IPA^(key): /dæft/
• Rhymes: -??ft, -æft

Adjective

daft (comparative dafter, superlative daftest)

1. (chiefly Britain, informal) Foolish, silly, stupid.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:foolish
2. (chiefly Britain, informal) Crazy, insane, mad.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:insane
3. (obsolete) Gentle, meek, mild.

Derived terms

Related terms

• bedaft
• deft

Translations

References

Further reading

• daft (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• DFAT

Middle English

Adjective

daft

1. Alternative form of defte

English

Alternative forms

• gaumless, gawmless

Etymology

From dialectal English gaum (“heed, attention”) +? -less (“without”), from Old Norse gaum, from Proto-Germanic *gaumaz, *gaum? (“heed, attention”). The ‘r’ found in this spelling is a vowel-lengthening device common in non-rhotic dialects of English.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /????ml?s/

Adjective

gormless (comparative more gormless, superlative most gormless)

1. (chiefly Britain and Australia, of a person) Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish.

Synonyms

• (lacking intelligence): dull, slow, stupid; inexperienced, naive

Derived terms

• gormlessly, gormlessness

Translations