dumbとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

From Middle English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, ineffectual”), from 古期英語 dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *dumb, from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).

The senses of stupid, unintellectual, and pointless, which are found regularly since the 19th century only, probably developed under the influence of German dumm and Dutch dom. Just like the English word, these originally meant "lacking the power of speech", but they developed the mentioned senses early on.

形容詞

dumb (comparative dumber, superlative dumbest)

1. (dated) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech (kept in "deaf, dumb, かつ blind").

   Synonyms: dumbstruck, mute, speechless, wordless

   His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.

   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures

2. (dated) Silent; unaccompanied by words.

   dumb show

   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act II, sc. 4:

     Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak

     In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 23:

     O let my books be then the eloquence

     And dumb presagers of my speaking breast ...

   • 1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter 2, in Original Stories from Real Life (Children's literature), 1796 printing edition, London: J. Johnson, page 10–11:

     The country people frequently ſay,—How can you treat a poor dumb beaſt ill; and a ſtreſs is very properly laid on the word dumb; for dumb they appear to thoſe who do not obſerve their looks and geſtures; but God, who takes care of every thing, underſtands their language...

   • 1881, John Campbell Shairp, Aspects of Poetry

     to pierce into the dumb past

3. (informal, derogatory, especially of a person) Extremely stupid.

   Synonyms: feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid; see also Thesaurus:stupid

   You are so dumb! You don't even know how to make toast!

4. (figuratively) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.

   Synonyms: banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar

   This is dumb! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!

   Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.

5. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.
   • 1720, Daniel Defoe, The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton

     Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.

派生語

語源 2

From Middle English dumben, from 古期英語 dumbian (more commonly in compound ādumbian (“to become mute または dumb; keep silence; hold one’s peace”)), from Proto-Germanic *dumbijaną, *dumbōną (“to be silent, become dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with German verdummen (“to become dumb”).

動詞

dumb (三人称単数 現在形 dumbs, 現在分詞 dumbing, 過去形および過去分詞形 dumbed)

1. (dated) To silence.
   • 1607, William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, Act I, sc. 5:

     ... what I would have spoke

     Was beastly dumbed by him.

   • 1911, Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison, page 272:

     The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.

2. (transitive) To make stupid.
   • 2003, Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice, page 124:

     I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.

3. (transitive) To represent as stupid.
   • 2004, Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa, page 107:

     Bad-mouthing Neanderthals . . . is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. . . . I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.

4. (transitive) To reduce the intellectual demands of.
   • 2002, Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing, page 126:

     The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.

派生語

語源

From Proto-West Germanic *dumb.

発音

• IPA^(key): /dumb/

形容詞

dumb

1. mute, dumb (unable to speak)
2. (substantive) a mute
   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Luke 11:14

     Þā hē ūt ādrāf þā dēofolsēocnesse, þā spræc se dumba.

     When he drove out the demon, the mute person spoke.

語形変化