Moron

Moron

Noun · /ˈmɔː.rɒn/

Definition

An informal, offensive term for a very stupid person; originally a clinical term in early 20th-century psychology for a person with a mild intellectual disability (IQ between 51 and 70).

Origin

From Greek mōros (dull, sluggish, stupid). Coined by the American psychologist Henry Goddard in 1910 as a clinical term in his classification system for intellectual disability, from the Greek. The classification system divided intellectual disability into three categories: idiot (IQ below 25), imbecile (IQ 25-50), and moron (IQ 51-70). All three terms subsequently passed from clinical into popular usage as general insults, and were progressively retired from clinical use as they became offensive. The word moron illustrating the pattern by which clinical terms for disability regularly pass into general use as insults.