lunatic

English

Alternative forms

• lunatick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English lunatik, from Old French lunatique, from Late Latin lunaticus (“moonstruck”), derived from Latin luna (“moon”), the connection stemming from the belief that changes of the moon caused intermittent insanity.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈluːnətɪk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (adjective) IPA^(key): /luːˈnætɪk/

Noun

lunatic (plural lunatics)

1. An insane person.

   Synonyms: moonling; see also Thesaurus:mad person

   • 1902, Hilaire Belloc, The Path to Rome:

     While there are other races (or individuals—heaven forgive me, I am no ethnologist) who think you a criminal or a lunatic unless you carefully plod along from step to step like a hippopotamus out of water.

   • 1980 March 7, Billy Joel, “You May Be Right”, in Glass Houses‎^[1]:

     You may be right
     I may be crazy
     Oh, but it just may be a lunatic you're looking for

Derived terms

• balloonatic
• lunachick
• lunacy
• lunatical
• lunatic asylum
• lunatic fringe
• lunatics have taken over the asylum
• Lunix
• saloonatic

Translations

insane person

• Armenian: խենթ (hy) (xentʻ)
• Bashkir: иҫәр (eśär), диуана (dewana), алйот (alyut), тиле (teli), йүләр (yölär), тинтәк (tentäk), һантый (hantıy)
• Bulgarian: луд (bg) m (lud), умопобъ́ркан (bg) m (umopobắrkan)
• Cherokee: ᎤᎸᏅᏘᏍᎩ (ulvnvtisgi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瘋子 / 疯子 (zh) (fēngzi), 狂人 (zh) (kuángrén)

• Czech: šílenec (cs) m, blázen (cs) m
• Dutch: gek (nl) m, gekkin (nl) f, zot (nl) m, zottin (nl) f
• Esperanto: lunatiko
• Finnish: hullu (fi), kuuhullu (fi), mielipuoli (fi)
• French: lunatique (fr) m or f, dément (fr) m, démente (fr) f, aliéné (fr) m, aliénée (fr) f, déséquilibré (fr) f
• German: Irre (de) m or f
• Hiligaynon: buangit, rendido ang ulo
• Hungarian: holdkóros (hu) sg, havas (hu) sg (archaic)
• Icelandic: brjálæðingur (is) m, geðsjúklingur (is) m
• Indonesian: orang gila
• Interlingua: folle
• Irish: gealt f
• Italian: demente (it) m or f
• Japanese: 狂人 (ja) (きょうじん, kyōjin), 気違い (ja) (きちがい, kichigai)
• Kikuyu: mũgũrũki class 1
• Korean: 광인(狂人) (ko) (gwang'in), 미치광이 (ko) (michigwang'i)
• Macedonian: лудак m (ludak)
• Malay: orang gila
• Māori: porowairangi
• Marathi: वेडा m (veḍā), वेडी f (veḍī), वेडे n (veḍe)
• Norman: leunatique m
• Occitan: lunatic, baug (oc), fòl (oc)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: دیوانِه (fa) (divâne)

• Polish: wariat (pl) m, szaleniec (pl) m
• Portuguese: lunático (pt) m, lunática (pt) f
• Romanian: nebun (ro) m, nebună (ro) f
• Russian: псих (ru) m (psix), душевнобольно́й (ru) m (duševnobolʹnój), сумасше́дший (ru) m (sumasšédšij), поме́шанный (ru) m (poméšannyj), чо́кнутый (ru) m (čóknutyj) (colloquial)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лу̀да̄к m, бѐзӯмнӣк m

  Latin: lùdāk (sh) m, bèzūmnīk (sh) m

• Slovak: šialenec m, blázon m
• Slovene: norec (sl) m, blaznež m
• Spanish: insano (es) m, orate (es)
• Swedish: galning (sv) c, dåre (sv) c, knäppgök (sv) c
• Tagalog: baliw (tl), sira-ulo
• Turkish: deli (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: دلی (deli), مجنون (mecnūn)

• Unami: kèkpëchehëlat
• Urdu: دِیوانَہ m (dīvāna), پاگَل m (pāgal), پَگْلا m (paglā)
• Welsh: lloerig (cy)

Adjective

lunatic (comparative more lunatic, superlative most lunatic)

1. Crazed, mad, insane, demented.
2. (literary, rare) Relating to the Moon; lunar.
   • 1996, Joel C. Relihan, “Menippus in Antiquity and the Renaissance”, in R. Bracht Branham, Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé, editors, The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy, Berkeley, C.A. […]: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 269:

     As the narrator turns his attention to the moon itself and its Lunatic inhabitants, Heinsius seems to draw on the True History, but is still within the confines of the Icaromenippus.

   • 2020, Kim Stanley Robinson, chapter 53, in The Ministry for the Future, New York, N.Y.: Orbit Books, →ISBN, page 235:

     That or I might bounce off something I hit and head back out into space, become the light in the eye of some lunatic observer, looking up at the big blue ball and seeing me bang something in their retina.

3. (literary, rare) Influenced or affected by the Moon.
   • 1956 Summer, David R[ytman] Slavitt, “Partiti da Cotesti che son Morti”, in The Kenyon Review, volume XVIII, number 3, Gambier, O.H.: Kenyon College, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 370:

     This I remember: she was false as the lunatic sea.

Synonyms

• crazed, insane, mad, demented, maniacal, psychotic; see also Thesaurus:insane

Derived terms

• lunatically

Related terms

• lunatic soup
• de lunatico inquirendo

Translations

crazed

• Bulgarian: луд (bg) (lud), побъркан (bg) (pobărkan)
• Catalan: llunàtic (ca)
• Czech: šílený (cs), bláznivý (cs)
• Esperanto: lunatika
• Finnish: hullu (fi)
• French: lunatique (fr)
• Hebrew: סַהֲרוּרִי (he) m (saharurí)
• Irish: gealtach, gan chiall
• Latin: lunaticus
• Norman: leunatique
• Portuguese: lunático (pt)
• Russian: сумасше́дший (ru) (sumasšédšij), душевнобольно́й (ru) (duševnobolʹnój), поме́шанный (ru) (poméšannyj), чо́кнутый (ru) (čóknutyj) (colloquial)
• Slovak: šialený, bláznivý
• Spanish: lunático (es)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: دلی (deli), مجنون (mecnun)

• Welsh: lloerig (cy)

References

• “lunatic, adj. & n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• cut nail, tunical

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /luˈna.tik/

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *lewk-

Proto-Indo-European *-sneh₂

Proto-Indo-European *lówksneh₂

Proto-Italic *louksnā

Latin lūna

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos

Proto-Italic *-ātos

Latin -ātus

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Latin -icus

Latin -āticus

Latin lūnāticus

Romanian lunatic

Inherited from Latin lūnāticus. By surface analysis, lună + -atic.

Alternative forms

• lunatec

Noun

lunatic m (plural lunatici)

1. somnambulist, sleepwalker

   Synonyms: somnambul, somnambulist, noctambul

2. (rare) dullard, fool, scatterbrain

   Synonyms: prostănac, cretin

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	lunatic	lunaticul	lunatici	lunaticii
genitive-dative	lunatic	lunaticului	lunatici	lunaticilor
vocative	lunaticule		lunaticilor

Adjective

lunatic m or n (feminine singular lunatică, masculine plural lunatici, feminine/neuter plural lunatice)

1. (popular, rare) born in the same month as another

Declension

Declension of lunatic

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	lunatic		lunatică	lunatici	lunatice
	definite	lunaticul		lunatica	lunaticii	lunaticele
genitive- dative	indefinite	lunatic		lunatice	lunatici	lunatice
	definite	lunaticului		lunaticei	lunaticilor	lunaticelor

Related terms

• lună

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French lunatique, Italian lunatico.

Adjective

lunatic m or n (feminine singular lunatică, masculine plural lunatici, feminine/neuter plural lunatice)

1. (rare) having hallucinations
2. (rare) fantastic, unreal, bizarre
3. having unusual or strange ideas and behavior
4. (rare) fearful

Declension

Declension of lunatic

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	lunatic		lunatică	lunatici	lunatice
	definite	lunaticul		lunatica	lunaticii	lunaticele
genitive- dative	indefinite	lunatic		lunatice	lunatici	lunatice
	definite	lunaticului		lunaticei	lunaticilor	lunaticelor

See also

• zăpăcit

Further reading

• “lunatic”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026