nincompoop
/ˈnɪŋkəmˌpup/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.91 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The Ship of Fools Fully Fraught and Richly Laden with Asses, Fools, Jack-daws, Ninnihammers, Coxcombs, Slender-wits, Shallowbrains, Paper-Skuls, Simpletons, Nickumpoops, Wiseakers, Dunces, and Blockheads. Declaring their several Natures, Manners, and Constitutions; the occasion why this Ship was built, with the places of their intended Voyage, and a lift of the Officers that bear Command therein [book title]."
- "Yes, you Nicompoop, you are a pretty Fellow to pleaſe a Woman indeed."
- "Mous[trappa]. O you huffing Son of a Whore. / Drink[allup]. You rotten Jack in a box. / Bean[tosser]. You foul mouth'd Nickumpoop."
- "’Tis ſuch another Nincompoop, / I ſleep, and he begins to droop. / He ſees, yet keeps his Eyes a winking, / Says nought, but pays it off with thinking."
- "Oh, thou Dromedary, thou Founder'd Mule, without a Pack-ſaddle; or what other foul Beaſt ſhall I call thee, for Man thou art not, nor haſt not been to me, Heaven knows the time when? Art not thou aſham'd to ſee me, thou Nincompoop?"
- "May'ſt thou paſs for a Nincumpoop all the World over, / From Paris to France, and from England to Dover."
Etymology
Uncertain; the first element nincom- is possibly from the name Nicholas or Nicodemus (compare French nicodème (“foolish or gullible person”), from the Pharisee named Nicodemus mentioned in the Bible who asks Jesus seemingly naive questions: see John 3:1–21), or from ninny (“foolish or silly person”), while the second element -poop could be derived from poop (“(obsolete) to cheat, deceive, fool”). The English lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) suggested that the first element might be from Latin non compos (mentis) (“not of sound mind”), but the Oxford English Dictionary notes that this does not correspond with early forms of the word from the 16th century such as nickumpoop and nicompoop.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈnɪŋkəmˌpup/
- British English: /ˈnɪŋkəmpuːp/