Story highlights The 4-year-old girl was malnourished

Her mom and boyfriend were arrested after admitting abuse

(CNN) The little girl was abused so badly she had a black eye, dried blood in the corner of her mouth and deep purple bruises all over her body.

But it's what she said when asked her name that's truly startling.

"Idiot."

The girl is only 4. She lived with her mother, Jennifer Denen, and Denen's live-in boyfriend, Clarence Reed, in a home in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Police say she was called an "idiot" so often and for so long that it was the word that sprung to her young mind when a social worker asked her name.

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