different between yokel vs moron

English

Etymology

1812, possibly from dialectal German Jokel, diminutive of Jakob; alternatively, from dialectal English yokel (“woodpecker”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?j??.k?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?jo?.k?l/
• Rhymes: -??k?l

Noun

yokel (plural yokels)

1. (derogatory) A person from or living in the countryside, viewed as being unsophisticated and/or naive.

   Synonyms: boor, bumpkin, country bumpkin, joskin, hillbilly, hick, peasant, provincial, rube, rustic, yahoo

   • 1838, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, London: Richard Bentley, Volume 2, Chapter 30, p. 81,^[1]

     “ […] my opinion at once is […] that this [robbery] wasn’t done by a yokel?eh, Duff?”

     “Certainly not,” replied Duff.

     “And, translating the word yokel, for the benefit of the ladies, I apprehend your meaning to be that this attempt was not made by a countryman?” said Mr. Losberne with a smile.

   • 1895, Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage, New York: Appleton, Chapter 8, p. 88,^[2]

     He eyed the story-teller with unspeakable wonder. His mouth was agape in yokel fashion.

   • 1985, Peter De Vries, The Prick of Noon, Penguin, Chapter 6, p. 119,^[3]

     I went to New York and bought myself a secondhand stretch limousine twenty-eight feet long, calculated to reduce the most blasé country-club sophisticates to bug-eyed yokels.

   • 1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, London: Phoenix, 1994, Chapter 8.6, p. 560,^[4]

     ‘You may think that because you live in Brahmpur you have seen the world?or more of the world than we poor yokels see. But some of us yokels have also seen the world?and not just the world of Brahmpur, but of Bombay. […] ’

Derived terms

• yokelry

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Kolye, Lokey, koley, kyloe

English

Etymology

Coined by psychologist Henry H. Goddard in 1910, from Ancient Greek ????? (m?rós, “foolish, dull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m????n/
• Rhymes: -????n

Noun

moron (plural morons)

1. (informal, derogatory) A stupid person; an idiot; a fool.
2. (dated, originally) A person of mild mental subnormality in the former classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50–70.

   Synonym: feeble-minded

Usage notes

The current medical term for having an IQ between 50 and 70 is “mild intellectual disability”.

Synonyms

• Thesaurus:fool
• Thesaurus:idiot

Derived terms

• Baltimoron
• moronic
• moronicity
• moronism
• moronocracy

Related terms

• oxymoron
• sophomore

Translations

Further reading

• Moron (psychology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Monro, normo-

Esperanto

Noun

moron

1. accusative singular of moro

French

Etymology

From English, from Ancient Greek ????? (m?rós, “foolish, dull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?.???/

Noun

moron m (plural morons, feminine moronne)

1. (Quebec) moron, idiot

Adjective

moron (feminine singular moronne, masculine plural morons, feminine plural moronnes)

1. (Quebec, informal) stupid

Middle English

Noun

moron

1. Alternative form of morwe

Romanian

Noun

moron m (plural moroni)

1. Alternative form of morun

Declension

Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mo??on]
• Hyphenation: mo?ron

Adjective

moron (comparative daha moron, superlative en moron)

1. fool, stupid, idiot, moronic

Noun

moron (definite accusative moronu, plural moronlar)

1. a moron

   Bir morona a??k oldum. — I fell in love with a moron.

Declension

Welsh

Etymology

From Old English moran, plural of more (“edible root, carrot, parsnip”), from Proto-West Germanic *morh?, from Proto-Germanic *murh?, from Proto-Indo-European *mr?k- (“edible herb, root, tuber”).

Noun

moron f pl (singulative moronen)

1. carrots

Mutation

Further reading

• "moron" in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (A Dictionary of the Welsh Language). University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies, 2014.