eejit

What it means

1. 1.

   A fool. Noticeably gentler than 'idiot' — it is what a parent calls a child, and what you call a friend who has locked his keys in the car.

In use

• You big eejit, that's not how it goes.

  Note: Affectionate. 'Big eejit' is almost never hostile.

• Some eejit parked across the gate.

  Note: Here it is genuine annoyance, but still mild.

Where it comes from

A spelling of the Irish pronunciation of 'idiot', with the initial vowel lengthened. The respelling did the semantic work: once it looked like a different word it stopped carrying the clinical weight of 'idiot' and became affectionate.

Other forms

Similar terms:

gobdaw, clown