cretin
nounUK /ˈkɹɛtɪn/ · US /ˈkɹiːtɪn/
Etymology From French crétin (“cretin, idiot”), likely from crestin, an Alpine dialectal form of chrétien, from Latin christiānus in the lost sense of “anyone in Christendom”, often with a sense of “poor fellow”. Doublet of Christian.
2
Broadly, Derogatory An idiot.
- When I challenged the symbolism, tried to make the professor consider the book as a piece of realism, he regarded me as if I were an absolute cretin. He got very supercilious and condescending […]1969, Irving Wallace, The Seven Minutes: