Mensch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mÉ›ntʃ/
• Rhymes: -É›ntʃ

Alternative forms

• mentsch
• mentsh
• mentch

Origin

From Yiddish מענטש (mentsh, "an honorable person"), from Old High German mennisko ("man"). The spelling mensch was influenced by German Mensch; compare the alternative spellings.

Full definition of mensch

Noun

1. A person (chiefly male) of strength, integrity, and honor or compassion.
• 1960, w, Doctor Dreyfuss C. C. Baxter: Be a mensch!
• 2005, w, w:The Line of Beauty, 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.
• 2008, December 28, George Solomon, My Little Red Book, 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 1467050873):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.----