“Nincompoop” has been voted the UK’s favourite sounding word.The term, probably derived in around 1676 from the Latin definition of someone not of a sound mind “non compos mentis”, came top of a poll to find Britain’s favourite words.
“Nincompoop”, which is now used to describe a silly or foolish person, polled 13 per cent of the votes to scoop the title.
More than 2,000 members of the British public were asked to pick their favourite word from the 16,500 entries in the Cambridge Dictionary.
“Love” came in second, followed by “mum” in third place and “discombobulated” – which means being thrown into a state of confusion – was fourth.