Dictionary

mensch en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /mɛnt͡ʃ/

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; compare also mense. For the semantics, compare Latin humanē (“kindly, courteously”), English humane.

Meanings

1. A person of strength, integrity, and honor or compassion; a gentleman.
   • […]Scott Nearing was a grand old man a real mensch[…] 1956, Allen Ginsberg, “America”, in Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series), City Lights Books, →OCLC, page 33:
   • Where have all the mensches gone? The character of the administration reflects the character of the man at its head. 2006 February 20, Paul Krugman, “The Mensch Gap”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • 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 December 28, George Solomon, “My Little Red Book”, in The Washington Post, page D01:
   • 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. 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 428:
   • Doctor Dreyfuss [to C. C. Baxter]: Be a mensch! 1960, Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond, The Apartment:
   • 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. 2008, Dwight S. Huggins, Into the Greenhouse Vol. VI: Dreams, →ISBN:

Forms

Deriveds

menschy · menschlike

Translations (14)

pl równiak (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · pl swój chłop (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · bn মরদ (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · pl równiacha (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · pl równy gość (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · de Ehrenmann (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · pl morus (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · fi kunnon mies (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · lad sadik (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · lad ben adam (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · yi צדיק (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · yi מענטש (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · fr homme de bien (person of strength, integrity and compassion) · fi hyvä mies (person of strength, integrity and compassion)