123: dumb Apr 10, 2015

Everyone now has an understanding of what 'dumb' means, be it 'stupid', 'socially inept' and/or 'dull', but this word did not always have such connotations. The word 'dumb', came to English from the Gothic 'dumbs', which meant 'mute'. Although this word still means "someone who cannot speak", some dictionaries no longer include this definition, as it is becoming archaic. Where the original sense of this word remains is in the words 'dumbstruck' and 'dumbfound'.