loon
/ˈluːn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.99 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A simpleton.
noun
An English soldier of an expeditionary army in Ireland.
Example Sentences
- "An electric fire came next, followed by an umbrella and then a colander. "This bowl will carry no water," he muttered. "Some loon hath pierced it with holes.""
- "What's it like to be a loon? / I liken it to a balloon"
- "The diuell damne thee blacke, thou cream-fac'd Loone: Where got'ſt thou that Gooſe-looke."
- "The Loone is an ill ſhap'd thing like a Cormorant; but that he can neyther goe nor flye; he maketh a noiſe ſometimes like a Sovvgelders horne."
- "[O]h, yes! the loon does shriek dreadfully - particularly when there's fine rain […]"
- "He came again to her and she said: ‘Run swifter than the deer, be more cunning than the beaver, dive deeper than the loon.’"
Etymology
From Middle English louen, lowen (“rascal; rogue”), probably of Middle Dutch or Middle Low German origin. Compare Dutch loen (“simpleton”). Or, related to etymology 2, due to the bird's loud cry. Folk etymology associates it slang-wise with lunatic, though the latter may have influenced it; see loony.