CRETIN Definition Meaning - Merriam-Webster In Franco-Provençal (the Romance speech of French Switzerland and adjacent areas of France), a person affected by hypothyroidism was called a cretin, literally, “wretch, innocent victim,” The word meant simply “Christian” and emphasized the hypothyroid victim's basic humanity
original meaning of ‘cretin’: ‘Christian’, ‘human being’ The French word crétin is an adaptation of Swiss patois crestin, creitin, from Latin Christianum, meaning Christian In this case, it means human being as distinguished from the brutes, the sense being that these beings are really human, though so deformed physically and mentally According to Bruyn and Poser, the word also reflects
cretin - Wiktionary, the free dictionary From French crétin (“cretin, idiot”), likely from crestin, an Alpine dialectal form of chrétien, from Latin christiānus in the lost sense of “anyone in Christendom”, often with a sense of “poor fellow”
Cretin - definition of cretin by The Free Dictionary Define cretin cretin synonyms, cretin pronunciation, cretin translation, English dictionary definition of cretin n Often Offensive 1 A person with cretinism 2 A person considered to be foolish or unintelligent cre′tin·oid′ adj cre′tin·ous adj American Heritage®
Cretin - Etymology, Origin Meaning - Etymonline 1779, from French crétin (18c ), from Alpine dialect crestin, "a dwarfed and deformed idiot" of a type formerly found in families in the Alpine lands, a condition caused by a congenital deficiency of thyroid hormones The word is of uncertain origin