nebbish

[ neb-ish ]
See synonyms for nebbish on Thesaurus.com
nounSlang.
  1. a pitifully ineffectual, luckless, and timid person.

Origin of nebbish

1
1890–95; <Yiddish nebekh poor, unfortunate, probably <Slavic; compare Czech nebohý poor; spelling with -sh perhaps < Western Yiddish forms of the word

Other words from nebbish

  • neb·bish·y, adjective

Words Nearby nebbish

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use nebbish in a sentence