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mensch

[mench]
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noun, plural mensch·en [men-chuh n] /ˈmɛn tʃən/, mensch·es. Informal.
  1. a decent, upright, mature, and responsible person.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for menschen

Historical Examples

  • Um dem guten und gerechten Menschen meine triumphierende Sicherheit zu geben.

    The Forerunners

    Romain Rolland

  • Stilling elsewhere says: "Schade, dass so wenige diesen vortrefflichen Menschen seinem Herzen nach kennen!"

    The Youth of Goethe

    Peter Hume Brown

  • Gott hilft nur dann, wenn Menschen nicht mehr helfen—God comes to our help only when there is no more help for us in man.

  • Doch es freut mich, Dinge poetisch durchzusetzen, an deren poetischer Darstellbarkeit wohl die meisten Menschen verzweifeln.

  • "Hin zu den kalten Menschen flieh'" is almost Schubertian in its spontaneity.

    Richard Wagner

    John F. Runciman

Word Origin and History for menschen

mensch

n.

"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).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper