The OED puts it best: ‘A wooden head, a wooden block for hats or wigs; hence, a head with no more intelligence in it than one of these, a blockish head.

 

《牛津英语词典》的解释最恰当:“一个木制的头，戴帽子或假发的木头，因此，这种脑袋中放不下才智，含义为愚蠢的人。

 

This term, which comes from the simple combination of dumb+ o, was popularized in the 1950s by the Disney film Dumbo. Poor cartoon elephants!

 

The followers of Scottish theologian and scholar Duns were considered enemies of learning by 16th-century humanists and reformers, who referred to them as ‘dunces’. So if classroom or scholarly foolishness is the sticking point, then dunce is the right word for you.

 

苏格兰神学家和学者Duns的追随者被16世纪的人文主义者和改革者认为是学习的敌人，这些改革者称他们为“愚人”。如果课堂或学业落后是表达的关键含义，那么dunce是合适的词。

 

 

‘Ignoramus’was the endorsement given by a grand jury when they considered the prosecution’s evidence for an indictment not sufficient to warrant the case going forward. The modern sense of ignoramus may come from the name of a character in George Ruggle’s 1615 comedy Ignoramus, which satirizes the ignorance of lawyers.

 

“Ignoramus（无知的人）”是大陪审团认为控方的证据起诉不足以继续时给出的标注。现代意义上的Ignoramus的含义可能来自1615年乔治的喜剧电影中一个角色的名字，来讽刺无知的律师。

 

From the Yiddish word klots, meaning ‘wooden block’, klutz refers to someone who is clumsy, awkward, or foolish. Yiddish has been a particularly fertile source of these words, including schmuck, putz, and schlemiel.

 

来自意第绪语单词klots，意思是“木块”，klutz指笨拙的人，或者愚蠢的人。意第绪语中表示愚笨的词汇很丰富，包括schmuck笨蛋，putz笨蛋，schlemiel倒霉的人。