Dumb - Wiktionary

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See also: DUMB and D.U.M.B.

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dʌm/, Rhymes: -ʌm
    • Audio (Canada):(file)
  • (Indic) IPA(key): /ɖəm(b)/

Etymology 1

From Middle English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, ineffectual”), from Old English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *dumb, from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).

The senses of stupid, unintellectual, and pointless, which are found regularly since the 19th century only, probably developed under the influence of German dumm and Dutch dom. Just like the English word, these originally meant "lacking the power of speech", but they developed the mentioned senses early on.

Cognates

Cognate with Scots dumb (“dumb, silent”), North Frisian dom, domme (“dumb, stupid”), West Frisian dom (“dumb, stupid”), Dutch dom (“dumb, stupid”), German dumm (“dumb, stupid”), Danish dum (“stupid”), Swedish dum (“stupid”), Icelandic dumbur (“dumb, mute”). See also deaf.

Adjective

dumb (comparative dumber, superlative dumbest)

  1. (dated) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech. Synonyms: mute, speechless, wordless deaf, dumb, and blind (set phrase) His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.
    • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures
    • 1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter 2, in Original Stories from Real Life (Children's literature), London: J. Johnson, published 1796, pages 10–11:The country people frequently ſay,—How can you treat a poor dumb beaſt ill; and a ſtreſs is very properly laid on the word dumb; for dumb they appear to thoſe who do not obſerve their looks and geſtures; but God, who takes care of every thing, underſtands their language...
    • 1884 January 5, “Mighty maiden with a mission”, in W. S. Gilbert (lyrics), Arthur Sullivan (music), Princess Ida‎[1], performed by D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, London, page 48:We are dumb and we would talk
    • a. 1905, anonymous translator, The Adventures of a Special Correspondent Among the Various Races and Countries of Central Asia‎[2], translation of Claudius Bombarnac by Jules Verne:It is true, there is Turkish of which I had picked up a few phrases, and there is Chinese of which I did not understand a single word. But I had no fear of remaining dumb in Turkestan and the Celestial Empire.
    • 1992, “Opiate”, performed by Tool:Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow / What you need is someone strong to guide you
  2. (archaic) Not talkative; taciturn or unwilling to speak.
  3. (dated) Having no input or voice in running things.
    • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Democracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker), page 210:Life was never a May-game for men; in all times the lot of the dumb-millions born to toil was defaced with manifold sufferings, injustices, heavy burdens, avoidable and unavoidable; not play at all, but hard work that made the sinews sore, and the heart sore.
  4. (dated, of things, actions, etc.) Unaccompanied by words or speech, silent, wordless. dumb show
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speakIn dumb significants proclaim your thoughts
    • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 23”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:O let my books be then the eloquenceAnd dumb presagers of my speaking breast […]
    • 1881, John Campbell Shairp, Aspects of Poetry:to pierce into the dumb past
  5. (dated) Not producing any sound, silent.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 39:[…] Thro’ lands where not a leaf was dumb;⁠But all the lavish hills would humThe murmur of a happy Pan: […]
  6. (informal, derogatory, especially of a person) Stupid. Synonyms: feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid; see also Thesaurus:stupid Antonyms: intelligent, smart You are so dumb! You don't even know how to make toast!
  7. (figuratively) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value. Synonyms: banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar This is dumb! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago! Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.
  8. Lacking some functionality or property ordinarily characteristic of its kind.
  9. (of technology) Not equipped with intelligent behavior or processing capabilities of its own. Antonym: smart
  10. (obsolete, rare) Lacking brightness or clearness as a colour; dim, dull.
    • 1720, Daniel Defoe, The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton:Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
Derived terms
Suffixed forms
  • dumbdom
  • dumben
  • dumbhood
  • dumbie
  • dumbification
  • dumbify
  • dumbish
  • dumbling
  • dumbly
  • dumbness
  • dumbo
  • dumbocracy
  • dumbocrat
  • dumbski
  • dummy
  • fandumb
  • freedumb
  • Mormondumb
  • randumb
  • undumb
  • wisdumb
Comparisons
  • dumb as a bag of hammers
  • dumb as a box of rocks
  • dumb as a brick
  • dumb as a doorknob
  • dumb as a doornail
  • dumb as a fish
  • dumb as an ox
  • dumb as a post
  • dumb as a rock
  • dumb as a sack of bricks
  • dumb as a sack of hammers
  • dumb as a stump
  • dumb as dirt
  • dumb as nails
  • dumb like a fox
Others
  • a dumb priest never got a parish
  • beauty fades, dumb is forever
  • deaf and dumb
  • dumb ague
  • dumbass
  • dumbassed
  • dumb barge
  • dumbbell
  • dumb blond
  • dumb bomb
  • dumb bunny
  • dumbbutt
  • dumb cake
  • dumb cancel
  • dumbcane
  • dumb chamber
  • dumb charade
  • dumb charades
  • dumb chill
  • dumb chum
  • dumb cluck
  • dumb crambo
  • dumb Dora
  • dumbfound, dumbfounded, dumbfounder
  • dumb friend
  • dumb fuck, dumb fucker
  • dumb genius
  • dumbhead
  • dumb hole
  • dumb insolence
  • dumb luck
  • dumb money
  • dumb muscle
  • dumb network
  • dumbnutdumbsize
  • dumb out
  • dumb peal
  • dumbphone
  • dumb piano
  • dumb pipe
  • dumb quotes
  • dumbshit
  • dumb show
  • dumb spinet
  • dumbstruck
  • dumb tax
  • dumb TV
  • dumbwaiter
  • dumb well
  • outdumb
  • rock-dumb
  • semidumb
  • strike dumb
Translations
unable to speak — see mute stupid
  • Afrikaans: dom (af)
  • Arabic: غَبِيّ (ḡabiyy) Egyptian Arabic: غشيم (ḡašīm), احمق (aḥmaʔ)
  • Belarusian: дурны (durny)
  • Bulgarian: тъп (bg) (tǎp)
  • Catalan: estúpid (ca)
  • Chinese: Mandarin: 蠢 (zh) (chǔn), 笨 (zh) (bèn)
  • Czech: debilní (cs), blbý (cs)
  • Danish: dum (da), åndssvag
  • Dutch: dom (nl), stom (nl)
  • Esperanto: stulta (eo)
  • Estonian: loll (et)
  • Finnish: typerä (fi), idioottimainen (fi)
  • French: stupide (fr), débile (fr), idiot (fr), niais (fr), bête (fr)
  • German: dumm (de), idiotisch (de)
  • Greek: χαζός (el) (chazós) Ancient: μωρός (mōrós)
  • Hebrew: מְטֻמְטָם (metumtam), טִפֵּשׁ (he) (tipesh)
  • Hungarian: ostoba (hu), hülye (hu), buta (hu)
  • Indonesian: dungu (id)
  • Italian: stupido (it)
  • Japanese: 愚かな (ja) (おろかな, oroka na), ばかな (ja) (ばかな, baka na)
  • Javanese: pekok (jv), goblog (jv)
  • Kurdish: Central Kurdish: بێعەقڵ (bê'eqill) Northern Kurdish: bêmêjî (ku), bêaqil (ku)
  • Latin: stupidus, stultus (la), blennus
  • Lithuanian: (slang, barbarism) durnas, kvailas
  • Low German: dumm (nds)
  • Ottoman Turkish: بوك (böñ), شاشقین (şaşkın)
  • Persian: کودن (fa) (kowdan), خنگ (fa) (xeng), دبنگ (fa) (dabang)
  • Plautdietsch: frekjt
  • Polish: durny (pl), tępy (pl), pustogłowy (pl), bezmyślny (pl), idiotyczny (pl), debilny (pl)
  • Portuguese: burro (pt), idiota (pt)
  • Russian: тупо́й (ru) (tupój), глу́пый (ru) (glúpyj), дурно́й (ru) (durnój)
  • Sanskrit: अज्ञान (sa) (ajñāna), मूर (sa) (mūra), मूर्ख (sa) (mūrkha), जल (sa) (jala), मूढ (sa) (mūḍha), निर्बुद्धि (sa) (nirbud'dhi)
  • Spanish: estúpido (es), tonto (es), mentecapto m, adundado (es)
  • Sundanese: belegug
  • Swedish: korkad (sv), dum (sv)
  • Thai: โง่ (th) (ngôo)
  • Turkish: aptal (tr)
  • Walloon: loigne (wa), boubiet (wa), wargnasse (wa)
  • Zazaki: xint c
pointless or unintellectual
  • Danish: dum (da), fordummende, åndssvag
  • Esperanto: stulta (eo)
  • Finnish: typerä (fi)
  • French: bête (fr) stupide (fr)
  • German: sinnlos (de), dümmlich (de), dumm (de)
  • Italian: stupido (it)
  • Japanese: 実のない (みのない, mi no nai)
  • Kurdish: Central Kurdish: بێمەعنا (bême'na)
  • Latin: supervacuus
  • Norwegian: Bokmål: dum (no) Nynorsk: dum
  • Portuguese: estúpido (pt)
  • Russian: бессмы́сленный (ru) (bessmýslennyj)
  • Spanish: estúpido (es), tonto (es), mentecapto m
  • Swedish: meningslös (sv)
  • Turkish: saçma (tr), boş (tr)
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked
  • Albanian: (please verify) budalla (sq)
  • Korean: (please verify) 더듬다 (ko) (deodeumda) (1), (please verify) 투미하다 (tumihada) (2,3)
  • Romanian: (please verify) mut (ro)
  • Sardinian: (please verify) mudu
  • Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) nem (sh), (please verify) nijem (sh)
  • Telugu: (please verify) మూగ (te) (mūga) (1)

Etymology 2

From Middle English dumben, from Old English *dumbian (found in the compound ādumbian (“to become mute or dumb; keep silence; hold one’s peace”)), from Proto-Germanic *dumbijaną, *dumbōną (“to be silent, become dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with German verdummen (“to become dumb”).

Verb

dumb (third-person singular simple present dumbs, present participle dumbing, simple past and past participle dumbed)

  1. (transitive, dated) To silence.
    • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:[…] what I would have spokeWas beastly dumbed by him.
    • 1911, Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison, page 272:The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.
  2. (transitive) To make stupid.
    • 2003, Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice, page 124:I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.
  3. (transitive) To represent as stupid.
    • 2004, Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa, page 107:Bad-mouthing Neanderthals […] is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. […] I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.
  4. (transitive) To reduce the intellectual demands of.
    • 2002, Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing, page 126:The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.
Derived terms
Terms derived from the adjective or verb "dumb"
  • bedumb
  • dumb blonde
  • dumb down
  • dumbness
  • dumbocracy
  • dumb-show
  • dumb terminal
  • dummy
  • play dumb

Etymology 3

A minced oath of damn.[1][2]

Adverb

dumb (not comparable)

  1. (African-American Vernacular) Very, extremely. Synonyms: type, mad, hella, wicked, (NYC) odee, (MLE, MTE) bare
    • 2017, Don Winslow, The Force, London: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, page 134:"What, you don't like your food?" Russo asks. ¶ "Are you kidding? It's dumb good."
    • 2019, Natisha Raynor, She Made a Savage Change His Ways 2, Atlanta, G.A.: Royalty Publishing House, →ISBN, page 4:Yo this shit is crazy how these females are making these doctors rich. My baby moms Miracle is getting surgery in a week or so. She's flying out to Colombia. That shit really baffles me as far as she's concerned, because Miracle is already dumb thick. I'm like damn ma, how big do you want your ass to be?
Derived terms
  • dumb hard
  • dummy

Adjective

dumb (comparative more dumb, superlative most dumb)

  1. (African-American Vernacular, dated) An intensifier expressing contempt; damn, damned.
    • 2002, Glenna Whiteaker Wilding, Tales of a Ridgerunner: The Adventures of a Young Family Growing Up in the East Tennessee Mountains, 1890s - 1920s, Prospect, K.Y.: Harmony House Publishers, →ISBN, page 95:Pap came to stand beside her and watched the two play. "That pup has just plum' fell in love with our Sammy, an' Sam's real took by him," Pap said. "It's a dumb shame, too. I talked to Jim, but he's not of a mind to sell."

References

  1. ^ “dum adv.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
  2. ^ “dum adj.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Middle English

Alternative forms

  • domb, doumb, dowmb, dom, domm, dum, doum, dowm, domp, doump

Etymology

From Old English dumb.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdum(b)/, /ˈduːm(b)/

Adjective

dumb (plural and weak singular dumbe)

  1. Lacking or failing to display the faculty of voice:
    1. Unspeaking; unable to speak or having muteness.
    2. (substantive) A mute; one who can't speak.
    3. Temporarily unable to speak due to strong emotions.
    4. Unwilling or reluctant to speak; not speaking.
  2. Powerless, ineffectual (either inherently or due to events)
  3. Unknowledgeable; having no understanding or sense.
  4. (of animals) Unwilling or unable to make a noise; quiet or silent.
  5. (rare) Unrevealing, useless; having no important messages or lessons.
  6. (rare) Having nothing to keep one busy or engaged.
  7. (rare, figurative) Refusing to preach or evangelise.
  8. (rare, figurative) Refusing to be conceited or vainglorious.

Derived terms

  • dombenesse
  • dumben

Descendants

  • English: dumb
  • Scots: dumb

References

  • “dǒmb, dǒumb, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 27 April 2019.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *dumb.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dumb/

Adjective

dumb

  1. mute, dumb (unable to speak)
    • late 10th century, Ælfric, Lives of Saints Fif and twentiġ manna myslīċe ġeuntrume cōmon tō þām hālgan heora hǣle biddende; sum wǣron blinde, sume wǣron healte, sume ēac dēafe, and dumbe ēac sum and hī ealle wurdon ānes dæġes ġehǣlede þurh þæs hālgan þingunge and him hām ġewendon.Twenty-five men, sickened in various ways, came to the saint begging for the health; some were blind, some were lame, some were also deaf, and some were dumb, and they were all healed in one day through the intercession of the saint and went home.
    • late 10th century, Ælfric, Grammar and Glossary Đonne beoð gyt of þam samod swegendum sume semivocales, þæt synd healfclypjende, sume syndon mutę, þæt synd dumbe.And still, there are from the consonants some semivocales (those are semi-vowels), and some mutę (those are mutes).
  2. (substantive) a mute
    • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Luke 11:14 Þā hē ūt ādrāf þā dēofolsēocnesse, þā spræc se dumba.When he drove out the demon, the mute person spoke.

Declension

Declension of dumb — Strong
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative dumb dumb dumb
Accusative dumbne dumbe dumb
Genitive dumbes dumbre dumbes
Dative dumbum dumbre dumbum
Instrumental dumbe dumbre dumbe
Plural Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative dumbe dumba, dumbe dumb
Accusative dumbe dumba, dumbe dumb
Genitive dumbra dumbra dumbra
Dative dumbum dumbum dumbum
Instrumental dumbum dumbum dumbum
Declension of dumb — Weak
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative dumba dumbe dumbe
Accusative dumban dumban dumbe
Genitive dumban dumban dumban
Dative dumban dumban dumban
Instrumental dumban dumban dumban
Plural Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative dumban dumban dumban
Accusative dumban dumban dumban
Genitive dumbra, dumbena dumbra, dumbena dumbra, dumbena
Dative dumbum dumbum dumbum
Instrumental dumbum dumbum dumbum
  • dumbnes

Descendants

  • Middle English: dumb
    • Scots: dumb
    • English: dumb

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