What Is a Cretin? How a Medical Term Became a Slur A cretin was originally a person suffering from severe physical and intellectual disabilities caused by thyroid hormone deficiency during fetal development and early childhood The condition, formally called cretinism or congenital iodine deficiency syndrome, results in stunted growth, impaired brain development, and often deafness Today the word is mostly used as a generic insult, but for
crétin - Wiktionary, the free dictionary Probably a doublet of chrétien (“Christian”), from Latin Christianus (from an Alpine French dialect crestin, undergoing some Franco-Provençal-like sound changes) Specifically, likely from a dialect in the Swiss Alpine francophone region where there was once an endemic level of cretinism It is also linked, somewhat euphemistically, to one of the older senses of the word, referring to
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®