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"stupid" in seven languages

Meaningstupid

Spanish

estúpido

/esˈtupido/

learned

Tonto is the everyday, milder word.

French

stupide

/stypid/

learned

Bête is the everyday, milder word.

Italian

stupido

/ˈstupido/

learned

Scemo is the everyday, milder word.

Portuguese

estúpido

/isˈtupidu/

learned

Romanian

stupid

/stuˈpid/

learned

Everyday speech often prefers prost, a Slavic word.

Catalan

estúpid

/əsˈtupit/

learned

English

stupid

/ˈstupɪd/

from Latin/French · French stupide (Latin STUPIDUS)

English → ItalianstupidstupidoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

STUPIDUM‘stunned, dazed (from STUPĒRE)’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

STUPIDUS first meant 'stunned, struck dumb', the same root as stupor. Spanish adds its usual e- before s + consonant; a learned word, the French one has no é-.

English relatives: stupor, stupendous, stupefy

Sound laws at work

S + consonant at the start of a word

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esFue un error estúpido.
  • frC'était une erreur stupide.
  • itÈ stato un errore stupido.
  • ptFoi um erro estúpido.
  • roA fost o greșeală stupidă.
  • caVa ser un error estúpid.
  • enThat was a stupid mistake.

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