Dunce Definition

Origin of Dunce

• Scotus was ironically a well-known Scottish thinker. His followers, however, opposed the philosophers of the Renaissance, and thus "dunce" was first used to describe someone rejecting new knowledge in 1530; later, any stupid person.

  From Wiktionary

• After John Duns Scotus whose writings and philosophy were ridiculed in the 16th century

  From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

• 1530, eponymous, from John Duns Scotus (circa 1265–1308).

  From Wiktionary