dullard

From Middle English dullard, dollard, equivalent to dull +‎ -ard (pejorative agent suffix). Compare Faroese døll (“dullard, good-for-nothing, blockhead”), Norwegian Nynorsk døl (“idiot, simpleton”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌlɚd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌləd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dul‧lard

dullard (plural dullards)

1. A stupid person; a fool.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fool

   • 1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 41:

     Oh! Richard of Bury, I sighed, for a sharp stone from your sling to pierce with indignant sarcasm the mental armour of these college dullards.

   • 1995, Temple Grandin, Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My Life with Autism, Vintage Books, published 2006, page 211:

     Whereas some prodigies develop at an early age, Einstein did not exhibit any great genius as a young child. Some people thought he was a dullard.

   • 2008–2021, qntm, “We Need To Talk About Fifty-Five”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 9:

     Marion has long since stopped listening. "You dullard," she says now she can finally speak, "I'm your chief of Antimemetics."

• “dullard”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.