Dunce

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ÊŒns

Origin

1530, eponymous, from John Duns Scotus (circa 1265–1308).

Wordorigins.org|3=Sunday, June 11, 2006

Scotus was ironically a well-known Scottish thinker. His followers, however, opposed the philosophers of the Renaissance, and thus "dunce" was first used to describe someone rejecting new knowledge in 1530; later, any stupid person.

Full definition of dunce

Noun

1. One backward in book learning; a child or other person dull or weak in intellect; a dullard; a dolt.

Derived terms

• duncedom
• duncehood
• duncelike
• duncely
• duncish/dunceish