nitwit

/ˌnɪtˈwɪt/

Other forms: nitwits

A nitwit is a foolish person. If you bake a cake and stir a cup of salt into the batter instead of sugar, your brother will probably call you a nitwit.

It's not nice to call someone a nitwit, but it's hard to resist when people do things that are outrageously incompetent or ridiculous. It's pretty common to refer to entire groups of people as nitwits, like politicians or fans of a rival sports team. The word comes from nit, "nothing" in dialectical Yiddish, and wit, "sense or intelligence."

Definitions of nitwit

1. noun

   a stupid incompetent person
   synonyms: dimwit, doofus, half-wit

   type of:

   simple, simpleton

   a person lacking intelligence or common sense