different between ninny vs dunce

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?ni/
• Rhymes: -?ni

Noun

ninny (plural ninnies)

1. (informal) A silly or foolish person.

   Synonym: dummkopf

   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III scene ii^[2]:

     Caliban: What a pied ninny's this! Thou scurvy patch! […]

   • 1962, John D. MacDonald

     Ninny — that soft, smiling, self-effacing, apologetic fellow, the type who is terribly sorry when you happen to step on his foot, the kind you can borrow money from in the certainty he will never demand you repay it.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:idiot

Related terms

• nincompoop
• ninnyish
• ninnyism
• ninnyhammer

Translations

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