Chinese

Glyph origin

愚 + 人.

Noun

愚人

1. fool, simpleton
   • 18th century, Cao Xueqin, Dream of the Red Chamber, chapter 65 (in Chinese):

     尤二姐滴淚說道：“你們拿我作愚人待，什么事我不知。 [MSC, trad.]

     尤二姐滴泪说道：“你们拿我作愚人待，什么事我不知。 [MSC, simp.]

     Yóu'èrjiě dīlèi shuōdào: "nǐmen ná wǒ zuò yúrén dài, shénme shì wǒ bù zhī. [Pinyin]

     Second Sister You said with tears dripping, “You treat me like a fool. Whatever it is, I do not know.

   • Tang Dynasty, 毛诗序, 诗经‧小雅‧鸿雁之什‧鸿雁, third line (in Chinese):

     鴻雁于飛、哀鳴嗷嗷。維此哲人、謂我劬勞。維彼愚人、謂我宣驕。 [MSC, trad.]

     鸿雁于飞、哀鸣嗷嗷。维此哲人、谓我劬劳。维彼愚人、谓我宣骄。 [MSC, simp.]

     Hóngyàn yú fēi, āimíng áo'áo. Wéi cǐ zhérén, wèi wǒ qúláo. Wéi bǐ yúrén, wèi wǒ xuānjiāo. [Pinyin]

     The wild geese are flying about, and melancholy is their cry of ao-ao. There were they, wise men, who recognized our pain and toil; If they had been stupid men, They would have said we were proclaiming our insolence.

Synonyms

• 白癡／白痴 (báichī)
• 傻子 (shǎzi)
  • (Cantonese) 傻仔
• 笨蛋 (bèndàn)
• 蠢人 (chǔnrén)
• 低能, 低能兒／低能儿
• 無知者／无知者
• 傻瓜 (shǎguā)

Derived terms

References

• Sturgeon, Donald J. (2009-07-02), “Book of Poetry : Minor odes of the kingdom : Decade Of Tong Gong : Hong Yan - Chinese Text Project”, in Chinese Text Project, retrieved 2009-07-25

Japanese

Noun

愚人 ‎(hiragana ぐじん, romaji gujin, alternative reading ぐにん, romaji gunin)

1. idiot

Korean

Noun

愚人 • ‎(u-in) ‎(hangeul 우인)

1. Hanja form^? of 우인, “idiot”.