different between foolish vs pinhead

English

Etymology

From Middle English folisch; equivalent to fool +? -ish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fu?.l??/

Adjective

foolish (comparative foolisher or more foolish, superlative foolishest or most foolish)

1. (of a person, an action, etc.) Lacking good sense or judgement; unwise.
2. Resembling or characteristic of a fool.

Synonyms

• absurd
• idiotic
• ridiculous
• silly
• unwise

Antonyms

• wise

Derived terms

• a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds
• foolishly
• foolishness

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• pin-head
• pin head

Etymology

pin +? head

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?n.h?d/

Noun

pinhead (plural pinheads)

1. The head of a pin. (Frequently used in size comparisons.)
   • 1810, Thomas Thomson, A System of Chemistry, Vol. 4, Bell & Bradfute, page 602:

     The moment the nitre was red hot, the coal, previously reduced to small pieces of the size of a pinhead, was projected in portions of one or two grains at a time…

2. (slang) An ignorant, naive, foolish, or stupid person.

   Synonyms: doofus, dumbbell, dunce; see also Thesaurus:idiot
3. (slang) A telemark skier.
4. (slang, medicine) A human head that is unusually tapered or small, often due to microcephaly, or a person with that trait. Often promoted in freak shows as "human pinheads".
   • 1939, Amram Scheinfeld and Morton David Schweitzer, You and Heredity, Frederick A. Stokes Co., page 155:

     The microcephalic idiot is an unfortunate with a "pinhead," sometimes exhibited as a "what's-it" in circus side-shows, whose mental age never goes beyond that of an imbecile.

   • 1943, Oliver Ramsay Pilat, Sodom by the Sea: An Affectionate History of Coney Island, Garden City Publishing, page 187:

     Zip the What-Is-It was simply a Negro idiot. […] For half an hour at a time, David Belasco used to watch Zip at Coney Island. The producer insisted he saw signs of intelligence in the pinhead […]

5. (slang, pet stores) A newborn cricket used as food for pets.
   • 1994, Raymond E. Hunziker, Leopard Geckos, Publisher, ?ISBN, page 16:

     A newly hatched gecko will need pretty small crickets, but you will not have to go all the way down to pinheads.

   • 2000, Manny Rubio, Scorpions: Everything About Purchase, Care, Feeding, and Housing, Barron's Educational Series, ?ISBN, page 70:

     Crickets can be purchased in many sizes from newborns ("pinheads") to adults.

6. (mycoculture) The immature juvenile fruiting body of a mushroom prior to its gills opening.

Derived terms

• count angels on pinheads
• pinhead oatmeal

Related terms

• pinheaded

Translations

Anagrams

• hand pie, headpin