half-wit

1. 1.

   a person of subnormal intelligence

   Synonymsidiotimbecilecretinmoronchangelingretard

   Broadersimpleton

   Narrowermongoloid
2. 2.

   a stupid incompetent person

   Synonymsdimwitnitwitdoofus

   Broadersimpleton

   colloquialism

Questions about half-wit

What does half-wit mean?

half-wit means "a person of subnormal intelligence". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in half-wit?

half-wit has 2 syllables: half--wit. The stress falls on "half-".

What is another word for half-wit?

Close synonyms include idiot, imbecile, cretin, moron, changeling. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is half-wit a common word?

half-wit is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.