imbecile

Meanings

Noun

• A person with limited mental capacity who can perform tasks and think only like a young child, in medical circles meaning a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal five to seven-year-old child.
• A fool, an idiot.

Adjective

• Destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; especially, mentally weak.

Origin

• From Middle French imbécile, from Latin imbēcillus ("{{l"), feeble}}, literally “without a staff”.