A stupid or foolish action; a blunder or silly mistake made through lack of thought.
From French bêtise, meaning 'foolishness' or 'stupidity', derived from bête meaning 'beast' or 'fool'. The word evolved to mean any foolish act or saying, and was borrowed into English in the 18th century to describe particularly absurd behaviors.
The French literally called foolish people 'beasts,' which tells you something about how connected they thought stupidity was to losing your human reasoning! This word reminds us that 'foolish' has animal roots in many languages.
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