one whose physical and mental development has been retarded or arrested due to thyroid deficiency
disapproval If you call someone a cretin, you think they are very stupid. = moron. an offensive word for someone who is extremely stupid (crétin, from cretin , from christianus )
one with arrested physical and mental development with dystrophy of bones and soft tissues, due to congenital lack of thyroid secretion
/kret'n/ or /kree'tn/ n Congenital {loser}; an obnoxious person; someone who can't do anything right It has been observed that many American hackers tend to favor the British pronunciation /kre'tn/ over standard American /kree'tn/; it is thought this may be due to the insidious phonetic influence of Monty Python's Flying Circus