dumb

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Stupid or silly (informal).

   That was a dumb mistake, and I knew it right away.

2. 2
   adj

   Unable to speak.

   The injury left him deaf and dumb for the rest of his life.

3. 3
   adj

   So shocked or surprised that you cannot speak.

   The terrible news struck her dumb.

From Middle English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, ineffectual”), from Old English 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. Cognat…

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