nitwit

A scatterbrained or stupid person.

Noun

  1. A scatterbrained or stupid person.
    • If you don't remember you are a nitwit. If you do answer, well, you know what the penalty is for perjury. - 1918, State Bar Association of Connecticut, Annual Report, page 82:
    • "Don't be a nitwit, honey!" says Adele. "Here, let me open the door! Ma be I did leave them lights on, though it ain't ike me!" - 1922, Nina Wilcox Putnam, Laughter Inc:

Origin

First attested in the 1910s in the US Northeast. Likely from German nit, dialect form of nichts (“nothing”), or Yiddish ניט (nit), dialect form of נישט (nisht, “no”), although some dictionaries give the alternative etymology nit (“louse egg; something very small”) + wit.

Forms

nitwits

Derived

nitwittery nitwittish