dunce

dunce
    n 1: a stupid person; these words are used to express a low
         opinion of someone's intelligence [syn: {dunce},
         {dunderhead}, {numskull}, {blockhead}, {bonehead},
         {lunkhead}, {hammerhead}, {knucklehead}, {loggerhead},
         {muttonhead}, {shithead}, {dumbass}, {fuckhead}]
    

Dunce \Dunce\, n. [From Joannes Duns Scotus, a schoolman called
   the Subtle Doctor, who died in 1308. Originally in the phrase
   "a Duns man". See Note below.]
   One backward in book learning; a child or other person dull
   or weak in intellect; a dullard; a dolt.
   [1913 Webster]

         I never knew this town without dunces of figure.
                                                  --Swift.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: The schoolmen were often called, after their great
         leader Duns Scotus, Dunsmen or Duncemen. In the revival
         of learning they were violently opposed to classical
         studies; hence, the name of Dunce was applied with
         scorn and contempt to an opposer of learning, or to one
         slow at learning, a dullard.
         [1913 Webster]
    

61 Moby Thesaurus words for "dunce":
      Boeotian, block, blockhead, bonehead, boob, booby, bufflehead,
      cabbagehead, chowderhead, chucklehead, chump, clod, clodpate,
      clodpoll, cluck, dabbler, dilettante, dimwit, dodo, dolt, dolthead,
      donkey, dope, drip, duffer, dullard, dullhead, dumb, dumb cluck,
      dumbbell, dummy, fool, gowk, greenhorn, greeny, ignoramus,
      illiterate, illiterati, jobbernowl, know-nothing, lackwit,
      lamebrain, lightweight, looby, loon, lowbrow, middlebrow, niais,
      nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nitwit, no scholar, noddy,
      puddinghead, put, stupid, tenderfoot, thickwit, unintelligentsia,
      witling