gormless

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   British informal: lacking intelligence, sense, or initiative

   He looked gormless when asked where he had left the keys.

Simplified etymology

Gormless was originally spelled gaumless and was formed from dialect gaum, meaning “understanding.” Gaum derives from Old Norse gaumr, “care” or “heed,” so the adjective literally denotes a lack of understanding or heed.

From dialectal English gaum (“heed, attention”) + -less (“without”), from Old Norse gaum, from Proto-Germanic *gaumaz, *gaumō (“heed, attention”). The ‘r’ found in this spelling is a vowel-lengthening device common in non-rhotic dialects of English.

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