different between drongo vs dunce

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?????

Etymology 1

From Malagasy drongo.

Noun

drongo (plural drongos or drongoes)

1. Any bird of the family Dicruridae.

Derived terms

• drongo cuckoo

Etymology 2

From an Australian racehorse named Drongo, apparently after the bird (specifically, after the spangled drongo, Dicrurus bracteatus). The horse (foaled 1920, retired 1925) never won a race, and by transference anyone slow-witted or clumsy became a drongo.

• Alternatively, from putative RAAF slang drongo (a recruit), similarly after the bird.
• Another suggested derivation is the Scottish Gaelic drongair (“drunkard”).

Noun

drongo (plural drongos)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, slang, derogatory) A fool, an idiot, a stupid fellow.
   • 2010, Graham Seal, Great Australian Stories: Legends, Yarns and Tall Tales, page 191,

     In another story, the drongo is working for a farmer when the boss decides it is time to build another windmill. The drongo agrees to help but asks the farmer if he thinks it really makes sense to have two windmills. ‘What do you mean?’ the farmer asked. ‘Well, says the drongo, ‘there?s barely enough wind to operate the one you already have, so I doubt there?ll be enough to work two of them.’

   • 2010, John Timpson, Upside Down Management: A Common Sense Guide to Better Business, unnumbered page,

     One drongo executive can do harm enough, but things get worse when they start recruiting people like themselves.

Synonyms

• (clumsy fool; idiot): cretin, doilem (Geordie), dufus, fool, glaik (Geordie), idiot, mong

References

Anagrams

• Gordon, Grodno

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from French drongo, from Malagasy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?dr?n.?o/
• Rhymes: -?n?o
• Hyphenation: dròn?go

Noun

drongo m (plural dronghi)

1. (ornithology) drongo (any bird of the Dicruridae family), particularly the fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis)

References

• drongo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French drongo, from Malagasy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?dron.?o/

Noun

drongo m (uncountable)

1. drongo

Declension

See also

• cioar?
• corb
• mierl?

References

• drongo in DEX online - Dic?ionare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

English

Etymology

1530, named after John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308).

Scotus was ironically a well-known Scottish thinker. His followers, however, opposed the philosophers of the Renaissance, and thus "dunce" was first used to describe someone rejecting new knowledge in 1530; later, any stupid person.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?ns/
• Rhymes: -?ns

Noun

dunce (plural dunces)

1. An unintelligent person.

   Synonyms: idiot; see also Thesaurus:idiot

   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XXX:

     [...] Dunce, / Dotard, a-dozing at the very nonce, / After a life spent training for the sight!

Derived terms

• dunce cap
• duncedom
• dunce hat
• duncehood
• duncelike
• duncely
• duncish/dunceish

Translations

Further reading

• “dunce”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

References