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Yes, although 'idiot' goes back a long way, to Ancient Greek, and in its original meaning merely means something like 'someone without a role in public life'.

The word "idiot" comes from the Greek ἰδιώτης, idiōtēs 'a private person, individual', 'a private citizen' (as opposed to an official), 'a common man', 'a person lacking professional skill, layman', later 'unskilled', 'ignorant' from ἴδιος, idios 'private', 'one's own'. In Latin, idiota was borrowed in the meaning 'uneducated', 'ignorant', 'common', and in Late Latin came to mean 'crude, illiterate, ignorant'. In French, it kept the meaning of 'illiterate', 'ignorant', and added the meaning 'stupid' in the 13th century. In English, it added the meaning 'mentally deficient' in the 14th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot

I find it a word with a more neutral etymology that isn't quite as bad as other insults, which, let's face it, all have a lot to do with people being nasty to each other. However, you can't do without insults completely (they're a necessity of life), and the later meaning of 'village idiot' is only one branch of its meaning. I find the original meaning vaguely connected with 'not doing any good (or only good for oneself)' and I use it in roughly that meaning. But simply, you need a word, or words, you can say when you're angry about someone, without inadvertently repeating discriminatory and victimising words like 'moron'.

'Imbecile' was part of the same nasty, discriminatory terminology as 'moron'. It's not in use as widely, though, probably because it's longer and more complicated phonetically. I see the adjective used more often, I think.