addlehead

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈædəlhɛd/ UK /ˈædəlhɛd/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a foolish or muddle-headed person

Only an addlehead would leave the gate open in a storm.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a foolish or muddle-headed... fool dunce blockhead simpletonnumbskull

Word family

Related forms addle addlebrained addlepated

Etymology

A compound of addle ('confused, rotten,' from Old English adela 'mire, filth') and head, from Old English hēafod.

adela Old English hēafod Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# addlehead

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈædəlhɛd/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈædəlhɛd/

## Meanings
1. a foolish or muddle-headed person

## Examples
- Only an addlehead would leave the gate open in a storm.

## Synonyms
- fool
- dunce
- blockhead
- simpleton
- numbskull

## Related Forms
- addle
- addlebrained
- addlepated

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: adela
- Root: hēafod

## Etymology
A compound of addle ('confused, rotten,' from Old English adela 'mire, filth') and head, from Old English hēafod.

## AI Etymology
Addlehead is a compound of addle ('confused, rotten,' from Old English adela 'mire, filth') and head, from Old English hēafod. Important recorded forms include adela (Old English) and hēafod (Old English). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers a foolish or muddle-headed person. The wider family includes related words such as addle, addlebrained, and addlepated.

## Topics
- People & Society

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