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An imbecile is a very rude word for a person you think is extremely stupid, or who has just done something extremely stupid. You can also use it like an adjective: “an imbecile idea.” It sounds sharp and a bit old-fashioned — more like an angry speech or a line in a book than a word friends toss around. Though actually, the word has a darker past. Doctors and lawyers used to use imbecile as a cold label for some people with disability. That use is old and , and you should not copy it. Today it is almost always an insult. If you only need “silly,” choose a gentler word.
白痴、笨蛋（罵人，很重；舊時也曾是醫學標籤，現在不當這麼用）
組成From Latin imbēcillus, “weak, feeble,” literally “without a staff.” English borrowed it through French imbécile.
同家族的字
- imbecilicthe adjective: like an imbecile
- imbecilitythe noun for the stupidity, not the person
原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
imbecilenoun/ɪmbəˈsiːl/
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obsoleteA person with limited mental capacity who can perform tasks and think only like a young child, in medical circles meaning a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal five- to seven-year-old child.
- It is an offence for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman whom he knows to be an idiot or imbecile.
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derogatoryA fool, an idiot.
- VLADIMIR: Because he wouldn't save them. / ESTRAGON: From hell? / VLADIMIR: Imbecile! From death.
- “A rat picked up a drink can and threw it at me?” yelled Mr Big. “A big rat, guv’nor? One of them super-rats?” suggested Thumbs. “It landed on my head, you imbecile!”
imbecileadj/ɪmbəˈsiːl/
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datedDestitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; especially, mentally weak.
- hospitals for the imbecile and insane
- And then that imbecile crowd down on the deck started their little fun, and I could see nothing more for smoke.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。