lunkhead

L1U1N1K5H4E1A1D2
US/ˈlʌnk.hɛd/US[ˈlʌŋk.ɦɛd]

noun

A fool or idiot.

“You are a lunkhead! How could you be so stupid?”

Scrabble 16

Meanings

nounlunkhead (plural lunkheads)

plural lunkheads

  1. derogatoryinformalA fool or idiot.

    You are a lunkhead! How could you be so stupid?

    3 more examples

    Eww, you've got to check out her creepy friends.. It's like these JAP actress sluts and some American Gladiators reject lunkhead!

    1997, Daniel Clowes, “The Norman Square”, in Ghost World, Jonathan Cape, published 2000, →ISBN, page 49

    More recently in the semi-mainstream, and somewhere between Jo and Lesbieber, there’s Portlandia’s Lance, of recurring couple Nina and Lance. He’s a longhaired lunkhead with a heart of gold and the patience of a man who could only actually be a woman.

    2015 February 17, Shauna Miller, “The Radical Queerness of Kate McKinnon's Justin Bieber”, in The Atlantic

    Bill Baker is a challenging hero to root for, a thickly accented lunkhead and self-described screwup who is never without his trucker cap and wraparound shades.

    2021 August 1, David Sims, “Stillwater Isn’t a Typical True-Crime Drama”, in The Atlantic

    Synonyms: addle-brain, addlehead, addle pate, airhead, baboon, beanbrain, beetlebrain, beetlehead

Synonyms & antonyms

More synonyms by meaning

nouna stupid person; these words are used to express a low opinion of someone's intelligence

Broader
stupidstupid personstupe

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Probably from *lunk (perhaps an alteration of lump; compare hunk & hump), a diminutive of lump + head.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

lunkhead. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lunkhead

MLA

“lunkhead.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lunkhead. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lunkhead,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lunkhead.

Source: lunkhead on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.