English → Latin
“idiot” in Latin
excorssenseless, silly, stupidfatuusfoolish, silly, simple, stupid; insipid, tasteless; awkward, clumsy, unwieldy
The English word idiot itself goes back to Latin idiōta.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
idiot
excors (of weak understanding, without the power of weighing or examining): qui suae mentis non est: mentis suae non compos (not in possession of reason): fatuus (idiotical; stronger than stultus). Who is such an idiot as to be agitated by these things? quis tam est excors, quem ista moveant? Nobody but an absolute idiot is blind to barefaced flattery, aperte adulantem nemo non videt, nisi qui admodum est excors (Cic.): unless they are absolute idiots, nisi plane sint fatui (Cic.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for idiot?
- The usual Latin words for “idiot” are excors, fatuus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.