daft

Meaning

1. (informal) Foolish, silly, stupid.
2. (informal) Crazy, insane, mad.
3. (obsolete) Gentle, meek, mild.

Synonyms

silly

foolish

mad

crazy

barmy

nutty

loony

haywire

insane

around the bend

nuts

bats

dotty

cracked

crackers

batty

daffy

kookie

kooky

light-headed

stupid

loco

loopy

wacky

fruity

weak-headed

whacky

bonkers

deranged

balmy

buggy

doltish

round the bend

madding

maniacal

mindless

nitwitted

non compos mentis

nonsensical

nudnik

oafish

obtuse

one brick short of a full load

over the edge

patsy

potty

preposterous

reckless

sap

sappy

screwball

senseless

simpleton

sucker

thoughtless

turkey

unreasoning

unwise

wanting

witless

doolally

goofball

goofy

meshuggener

off one’s chump

off one’s nut

out of one’s mind

slap-happy

bughouse

lunatical

off one’s rocker

off one’s trolley

Laputan

gaumless

meshugge

nudnick

off one’s rocket

addle brained

crack brained

nutso

reality challenged

airhead

nutzoid

blithering

brainless

changeling

crackpot

cuckoo

daredevil

demented

dimwit

distraught

dopey

dull

dull-witted

fatuous

feebleminded

flighty

fool

frivolous

goon

goose

🪿

goosey

goosy

gormless

half-witted

idiotic

imbecile

imbecilic

inane

incipient

inept

insensate

light

lunatic

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɑːft/

Etymology

From Middle English dafte, defte (“gentle; having good manners; humble, modest; awkward; dull; boorish”), from Old English dæfte (“accommodating; gentle, meek, mild”), from Proto-West Germanic *daftī (“fitting, suitable”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₂ebʰ- (“fitting; to fit together”). Related to Old English dafnian, dafenian (“to be fitting, appropriate, or becoming”), Russian до́брый (dóbryj, “good”).
Compare silly which originally meant “blessed; good, innocent; pitiful; weak”, but now means “laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance; mentally simple, foolish”.
Unrelated to, though perhaps influenced by, daff (“fool (n.); to be foolish (v.)”) (past form daffed).