bit of a thembo
- noun
- Offensive
:
guapo pero tonto (despectivo, informal)
- Everyone thinks Jake is a bit of a thembo because of his looks and goofy comments.
Examples
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She laughed and called him a bit of a thembo after he forgot his keys again.
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He may look like a bit of a thembo, but he has a kind heart.
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He's just a bit of a thembo but very charming.
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She called him a bit of a thembo after their date.
-
Everyone thinks Jake is a bit of a thembo because of his looks and goofy comments.
-
She laughed and called him a bit of a thembo after he forgot his keys again.
-
He may look like a bit of a thembo, but he has a kind heart.
Synonyms
92
8.4
A person who behaves in a silly or stupid way
1
7.6
A person who is attractive but thought to have little intelligence or real skill
1
9.9
A person who is not very intelligent
Pleasant and friendly but not very smart
Antonyms
How Attractive
Surface Forms
Morphology
bit + of + a + thembo
The construction 'a bit of a + noun' is a productive, compositional pattern meaning 'somewhat' or 'rather a(n) X', so combining it with 'thembo' yields 'somewhat a thembo' (i.e. somewhat an attractive but not very intelligent man). Although 'thembo' is slang and may be unfamiliar, the overall meaning is directly derivable from the known constituents and the common English quantifying pattern.
Etymology
Bit of a thembo comes from the older word bimbo, which named a pretty but not very smart woman. People made a male form, thembo, and the phrase bit of a means 'a somewhat' or 'a little', so the whole expression means 'an attractive man who is not very intelligent'.