Mensch

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This article is about the Yiddish word. For the album by Herbert Grönemeyer, see Mensch (album).

Mensch (Yiddish מענטש; also mentsch, mentsh, mensh, or mench, plural - mentchen) is a German noun meaning a "human".

In Yiddish (from which the word has migrated into American English), mensch roughly means "a good person." A "mensch" is a particularly good person, like "a stand-up guy," a person with the qualities one would hope for in a dear friend or trusted colleague. According to author and Yiddish popularist Leo Rosten,

[A] mensch is a someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being "a real mensch" is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous. (Rosten, Leo. 1968. The Joys of Yiddish. New York: Pocket Books. 237)

Mentschlekhkeyt (Yiddish: מענטשלעכקייט) are the properties which make one a mensch.

The correct German spelling is Mensch (singular, meaning non-judgmental human or man), Menschen (for the plural and for the singular accusative) and Menschlichkeit ("humanity").

The direct opposite of a Mensch is an Unmensch (meaning: an utterly cruel person).