schlemiel

American  

[shluh-meel] / ʃləˈmil /

Or schlemihl,

noun

Slang.

1. an awkward and unlucky person for whom things never turn out right.

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schlemiel British  

/ ʃləˈmiːl /

noun

1. slang an awkward or unlucky person whose endeavours usually fail

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Etymology

Origin of schlemiel

1890–95; < Yiddish shlemil < Hebrew shəlumīʾēl Shelumiel, a Biblical and Talmudic figure

Explanation

A schlemiel is a somewhat dopey, awkward person. You might angrily call your brother a schlemiel after he drops the cake you've spent all day making, stumbles, and sits on it. Nothing every goes quite right for a schlemiel — he's the guy who never seems to get any good luck, and who's less than brilliant and not particularly graceful. A schlemiel in a movie is an object of fun, perfect for laughing at. In real life, it's pretty hard to be a schlemiel. The word schlemiel means "bungler" in Yiddish, from a character called Peter Schlemihl in a classic German fable.

Example Sentences

A Jew writing in German, “Kafka sees that the schlemiel loses. He sees it through to the tragic end,” as European Jewry soon would.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

And so the schlemiel became a stand-in for a generation.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2021

He had some idea as to why the showrunners had reimagined a capable, no-nonsense attorney as a schlemiel with unresolved trauma.

From New York Times • May 27, 2020

As Costanza, Mr. Stiller was perpetually struggling to control his temper, blood pressure and contempt for his son, George, a balding schlemiel played by Jason Alexander.

From Washington Post • May 11, 2020

“No, like an utter schlemiel, I just walked in there. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros