nejēga

From ne- +‎ jēga (“meaning, sense, knowledge”). It is a remnant of an earlier sense of jēga, “intelligent person.”^[1]

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nejēga m or f (4th declension)

1. ignorant, unskilled, stupid person (someone without the necessary knowledge or skills for something)

   nejēga šahā ― a person unskilled in chess

   nejēga lauku darbos ― a person unskilled for farm work

   nejēga muzikā ― a person ignorant of music

   svešais pievienojas viņām un apjautājas par skolu... galīgs nejēga; acīm redzot, nezina, ka mācības tikai šodien pa īstam sākušās ― the stranger joined them and asked about the school... (he was) a fool; apparently unaware that classes really started only today

   gadās dažreiz arī kļūmes... tad meistars baras un sauc mūs par nejēgām ― sometimes failure happens... then the teacher scolds us and calls us stupid

2. fool, foolish person (someone whose behavior or actions are nonsensical)

   pilnīgs nejēga ― a complete fool

   šeit dzīvodams, arvien skaidrāk saprotu, cik liels nejēga esmu bijis ― living here, I understand more and more clearly how big a fool I have been

The term nejēga is ambigenous. It is masculine when it refers to males and feminine when it refers to females. It is, however, always declined as a feminine noun, with the exception of its dative singular form, which is nejēgam when it refers to a male and nejēgai when it refers to a female.

• duraks
• idiots, idiote
• muļķis, muļķe, muļķadesa
• neprātis, neprāte
• stulbenis, stulbene

• jēga
• jēgt