different between schlimazel vs schmuck

English

Etymology

Yiddish ??????? (shlimazl), from Middle High German slim (“crooked”) and Hebrew ???? (mazz?l, “luck”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l??m??z?l/

Noun

schlimazel (plural schlimazels)

1. (colloquial, chiefly US) A chronically unlucky person.
   • 1962, Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America 2007, p. 46:

     I must have pressed two buttons at once, he decided; jammed the works and got this schlimazl’s eye view of reality.

Alternative forms

• schlimazl
• shlimazel
• shlimazl
• shlemozzle

Related terms

• schlemiel, shemozzle

Translations

References

English

Alternative forms

• shmuck, shmuk

Etymology

From Yiddish ?????? (shmok, “penis, fool”). Further origin uncertain. Probably from Old Polish smok (“dragon”), akin to Bulgarian ???? (smok, “grass snake”). Perhaps akin to onomatopoeic Russian ???????? (smoktat?) smoktat ("to suck") according to old belief that snakes suck milk from animals. Alternatively a baby-talk corruption of Yiddish ?????? (shmekl), a dissimilated form of ?????? (shtekl, “penis/willy”, literally “little stick”). Alternatively from the verb Middle High German smucken, archaic German schmucken, which has several meanings allowing possible semantic connections: 1.) “to squeeze, press, fit into something tight”; 2.) “to hug, snuggle, kiss”; 3.) “to adorn, decorate”. The last of these three senses is perhaps less likely, but compare German Schmuck (“jewellery”) with English crown jewels.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Noun

schmuck (plural schmucks)

1. (colloquial, derogatory, US) A jerk; a person who is unlikable, detestable, or contemptible because he or she is stupid, foolish, clumsy, oafish, inept, malicious, or unpleasant.

   Synonyms: twerp, twit, dope, dick, dork, prick, putz

   • 1995 September, The Playboy Interview: Cindy Crawford, Playboy

     One day my girlfriend, her boyfriend and I were sunbathing topless because that's Barbados - you can wear nothing if you want. And the Pepsi guy walks up and with my agent to meet us for lunch. I wondered if I should put on my top because I have a business relationship with him. I didn't want him to get offended because the rest of the beach had seen me with my top off. Meanwhile, as he's walking towards me he's saying to my agent "I hope she puts on her top.". He wasn't even being a schmuck, like wanting to see.

2. (colloquial, derogatory) A deplorable, pitiful person; often in the form poor schmuck.

Derived terms

• Schmucksville
• schmucky

Translations

See also

• schlemiel

Further reading

• Yiddish language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

German

Etymology

From Middle Low German smuk (“supple, bendsome, pleasing, beautiful, petite, cute”) (compare Middle Low German smuk (“ornament, jewellery”)), from Old Saxon *smuk, *smukk, from Proto-Germanic *smukkaz (“flexible, bendsome, easy”), from Proto-Indo-European *smewg- (“to slip, glide, slide”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?k/
• Homophone: Schmuck
• Rhymes: -?k

Adjective

schmuck (comparative schmucker, superlative am schmucksten)

1. (dated) pretty, spruce

Declension

Further reading

• “schmuck” in Duden online