Etymology

moron

M3O1R1O1N1

Today it means: A stupid person; an idiot; a fool. Full definition →

Ancient Greek μωρόν
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

moron · noun1

  1. Ancient Greek · learned borrowing fromμωρόν
  2. English todaymoron

Coined by American psychologist Henry H. Goddard in 1910, from Ancient Greek μωρόν (mōrón), the neuter form of μωρός (mōrós, “foolish, dull”).

moron · noun2

Coined by American legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin in late 20th c.; by surface analysis, mor(al) + -on. The obvious idea that the homonymy with the usual sense of moron was likely intentional has been supported by some of Dworkin's fellow philosophers.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.