Mensch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mensch (Yiddish מענטש; also mentsch, mentsh, mensh, or mench, plural: mentschen, German plural: Menschen) 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 role model. 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").

In Modern Israeli Hebrew, the phrase Ben Adam is used as an exact translation of Mensch. Though it literally means "Son of Adam'" the phrase is used for both men and women. Depending on the context, it means either a "person" in general, or specifically a Mensch.

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

This page has been transwikied to Wiktionary. Because this article has content useful to Wikipedia's sister project Wiktionary, it has been copied to there, and its dictionary counterpart can be found at either Wiktionary:Transwiki:Mensch or Wiktionary:Mensch. It should no longer appear in Category:Copy to Wiktionary and should not be re-added there. Wikipedia is not a dictionary, and if this article cannot be expanded beyond a dictionary definition, it should be tagged for deletion. If it can be expanded into an article, please do so and remove this template. Note that {{vocab-stub}} is deprecated. If {{vocab-stub}} was removed when this article was transwikied, and the article is deemed encyclopedic, there should be a more suitable category for it.