Etymology

midwit

M3I1D2W4I1T1

Today it means: A person of middling intellect; someone who is neither particularly dull nor particularly smart, especially if they act as though they are smarter than they are. Full definition →

English halfwitinflu. ← Middle English wit ← Old English witt
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*me
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-?
  3. Proto-Indo-European*médʰi
  4. Proto-Indo-European*médʰyos
  5. Proto-Germanic*midjaz
  6. Proto-West Germanic*midi
  7. Old Englishmidd
  8. Middle Englishmid
  9. Englishmid
  10. Englishmid-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*weyd-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*wóyde
  13. Proto-Germanic*witaną
  14. Proto-Germanic*witją
  15. Proto-West Germanic*witi
  16. Old Englishwitt
  17. Middle Englishwit
  18. Englishwit
  19. Englishnitwitinflu.
  20. Englishhalfwitinflu.
  21. English todaymidwit

From mid- + wit; likely coined in line with nitwit, halfwit, etc.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.