mensch

[mench]

noun, plural mensch·en [men-chuh n] /ˈmɛn tʃən/, mensch·es. Informal.

a decent, upright, mature, and responsible person.

Origin of mensch

1950–55; < Yiddish mentsh man, human being < Middle High German mensch (German Mensch), Old High German mennisco, mannisco; see man¹, -ish¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for mensch

Contemporary Examples of mensch

His proposal is the work of a mensch and, no doubt, an act of love.
"Zionist BDS" is Not the Way to Save Israel
Noah Efron
March 21, 2012
Yet in my mind it made him more than a politician, more than a musician; it made him a mensch.
Kinky for Perry
Kinky Friedman
August 24, 2011
If that money actually winds up in the hands of needy kids, James seems like a mensch.
The LeBron James Show
Bryan Curtis
July 8, 2010
He is a familiar Apatow mensch, and somehow Rogen gets away with playing this guy over and over without becoming tiresome.
How Funny Is Funny People?
Caryn James
July 29, 2009

Historical Examples of mensch

Also, Mr. Mensch is not accurate in conveying the writer's meaning.
Some Mooted Questions in Reinforced Concrete Design
Edward Godfrey
I caught several times the word "Mensch," man; and also "Fressen," which last I looked up afterwards in my dictionary.
Falk
Joseph Conrad
Spinoza was a God-intoxicated man (Gott-getrunkener 40 Mensch).
Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources
James Wood
In Gothic we find both ‘man,’ and ‘Maunisk,’ the modern German ‘maun,’ and ‘mensch.’
Tradition
John Francis Arundell
In Gothic we find both man and mannisks, the modern German mann and mensch.'
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 4, October, 1864
Various

Word Origin and History for mensch

"person of strength and honor," 1907, from Yiddish, from German Mensch, literally "man, person," from Old High German mennisco "human," from Proto-Germanic adjective *manniska- "human" (see mannish).