Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

luftmensch

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: luft-men-sch
IPA

20

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A person who is highly intellectual or contemplative but detached from practical affairs, especially the need to earn a living.

Slang

noun

A beggar, a petty trader, a peddler, and various types of paupers.

Slang

Example Sentences

"My wife is such a luftmensch she missed our anniversary dinner because she was too busy reading her books!"
"Chagall was a luftmensch, he says, a man of the air..."

Etymology

From Yiddish לופֿטמענטש (luftmentsh), from לופֿט (luft, “air”) + מענטש (mentsh, “person”). Compare German von Luft und Liebe leben (“to disregard the practical matters of life”, literally “to live on air and love”), German Luftikus (“impractical, quixotic, or careless person”). The word first appeared in Yiddish literature in the 1860s (Nicolas Vallois, The Luftmentsh as an economic metaphor for Jewish poverty: a rhetorical analysis).

Origin

Source language: Yiddish

Word Breakdown

Root: לופֿטמענטש

Usage

Slang

Inflected Forms

luftmenschen (plural)

Questions

What does luftmensch mean?: A person who is highly intellectual or contemplative but detached from practical affairs, especially the need to earn a living.
Where does luftmensch come from?: It is traced to Yiddish.

How to pronounce luftmensch

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