dumb

English

/dʌm/

adj
Definitions
  • (dated) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech (kept in "deaf, dumb, and blind").
  • (dated) Silent; unaccompanied by words.
  • (informal) Extremely stupid.
  • (figuratively) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
  • Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English dumb (silent, mute, ineffectual, speechless) inherited from Old English dumb (unable to speak, speechless, silent, mute) inherited from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (dumb, dull) inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (whisk, smoke, darken, obscure, black, deep, be obscured, plug, wedge, peg, be obscure, whirl, smoky, foggy, dim, mist, stupefaction, daze) derived from German dumm (stupid, dumb, idiotic, ninny, foolish) derived from Dutch, Flemish dom (dumb, stupid, thumb) root from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (whisk, smoke, darken, obscure, black, deep, be obscured, plug, wedge, peg, be obscure, whirl, smoky, foggy, dim, mist, stupefaction, daze).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*dʰewbʰ-

Gloss

whisk, smoke, darken, obscure, black, deep, be obscured, plug, wedge, peg, be obscure, whirl, smoky, foggy, dim, mist, stupefaction, daze

Concept
Semantic Field

Basic actions and technology

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

煙

Emoji
🌋 🚬

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms