mensch

See also: Mensch, mènsch, and Mënsch

English

Alternative forms

• mensh, mentsch, mentsh, mentch, mench

Etymology

From Yiddish מענטש (mentsh, “an honorable person”), from Middle High German mensch, mensche, mennische, from Old High German mennisko (“man, human being”), from Proto-Germanic *manniskaz (“human”). The spelling mensch was influenced by German Mensch; compare the alternative spellings. Doublet of mennish and mensk; compare also mense. For the semantics, compare Latin humanē (“kindly, courteously”), English humane.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛnt͡ʃ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɛnʃ
  • Rhymes: -ɛntʃ

Noun

mensch (plural mensches or menschen)

1. A person (chiefly male) of strength, integrity, and honor or compassion.
   • 1956, Allen Ginsberg, “America”, in Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series), City Lights Books, →OCLC, page 33:

     […] Scott Nearing was a grand old man a real mensch […]

   • 1960, Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond, The Apartment:

     Doctor Dreyfuss [to C. C. Baxter]: Be a mensch!

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 428:

     Lionel Kessler, relaxing perhaps on a Louis Quinze day bed, garlanded all round with lines of beauty, seeing welcome proof that his clever maligned young friend was a mensch.

   • 2006 February 20, Paul Krugman, “The Mensch Gap”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Where have all the mensches gone? The character of the administration reflects the character of the man at its head.

   • 2008 December 28, George Solomon, “My Little Red Book”, in The Washington Post, page D01:

     Olie Kolzig: Goalie for the Washington Capitals who spent most of 16 seasons between the pipes for the team until being released in 2008. Had the longest career of any Capital. Now plays for Tampa Bay. The ultimate mensch, in my book.

   • 2008, Dwight S. Huggins, Into the Greenhouse Vol. VI: Dreams, →ISBN:

     She was an Amerindian, and stout. She was a real mensch, […] a hard working person, who took pride in her job, which was to spray from an aerosol can a particular base.

2. A gentleman.

Derived terms

• menschy

Translations

person of strength, integrity and compassion

• Bengali: মরদ (bn) (morod)
• Finnish: hyvä mies, kunnon mies
• French: homme de bien (fr) m
• Ladino: ben adam, sadik
• Polish: morus (pl) m, równiacha m, równiak m, równy gość m, swój chłop (pl) m
• Yiddish: מענטש (mentsh), צדיק (tsadek)

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

mensch m or n (plural menschen, diminutive menschje n)

1. Obsolete spelling of mens

German

Etymology

From Mensch (“human being”). Coined as (gender-neutral) alternative to man (“one”) for the same reason as frau, which see. Compare the use of they (vs she vs he) in English to refer to a generic or specific person whose gender is unknown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛnʃ/, [mɛnʃ], [mɛntʃ]

• audio

  (file)

• Homophone: Mensch

Pronoun

mensch

1. (indefinite, informal, slang, rare) one, they (indefinite third-person singular pronoun)
   • 2000, Jan Schwarzmeier, Die Autonomen zwischen Subkultur und sozialer Bewegung, →ISBN, page 66:

     „Nichtverhandeln war mehr ein Gefühl, daß mit dem Staat eh nichts vernünftiges anzufangen ist, daß mensch nur übers Ohr gehauen wird, wenn mensch sich auf Gespräche mit den Regierenden einläßt […] “

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2010, Sandra Glammeier, Zwischen Verleiblichter Herrschaft und Widerstand, →ISBN, page 92:

     Dies ist nach Landweer (1999: 45) aber nur möglich, wenn mensch sich irgendeine noch so vage Verantwortung dafür zuschreibt, Objekt von Demütigung geworden zu sein.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2013, Werner Ablass, ZEN: ohne wie ein Huhn auf der Stange zu sitzen, →ISBN, page 233:

     ZEN könnte unerwähnt bleiben, wenn mensch sich in seinem natürlichen Zustand erfahren würde.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)