Kilo Lingo

/dʌm/

Line drawing of dumb
Coloured illustration of dumb
#1393 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

Not clever and not sensible; in older English it also meant unable to speak.

Word origin

From Old English dumb, meaning unable to speak; the sense of stupid came later from German dumm.

Origin
Old English
Root
dumb

Examples

.

"Dumb" here means stupid. It is informal, so keep it for friends.

.

The word is very common in American English and understood in Britain.

.

This older meaning sounds rude today. Say that someone cannot speak instead.

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This word is part of lesson 28.