different between ninny vs ninnyhammer

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

Noun

ninnyhammer (plural ninnyhammers)

1. a foolish person; a simpleton
   • 1608, A Yorkshire Tragedy, dubiously claimed to be by William Shakespeare

     Why, the more fool she; aye, the more ninny hammer she.

   • 1836 Joanna Baillie, Enthusiasm, Act 2

     'Silly noodle!—foolish simpleton!—bewildered ninnyhammer! He had brains in his head once.'

   • 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

     'Well, if I don't deserve to be hung on the end of one as a warning to numbskulls! You're nowt but a ninnyhammer, Sam Gamgee: that's what the Gaffer said to me often enough, it being a word of his. Rope!'

Synonyms

• ninny
• nincompoop
• boob