英和和英

語源

From Yiddish מענטש‎ (mentsh, “an honorable person”), from Middle High German mensch, mensche, mennische, from Old High German mennisko (“man, human being”), from Proto-Germanic *manniskaz (“human”). The spelling mensch was influenced by German Mensch; compare the alternative spellings. Doublet of mennish and mensk; compare also mense. For the semantics, compare Latin humanē (“kindly, courteously”), English humane.

発音

• IPA^(key): /mɛnt͡ʃ/
  • 韻: -ɛnʃ
  • 韻: -ɛntʃ

名詞

mensch (複数形 mensches または menschen)

1. A person (chiefly male) of strength, integrity, and honor or compassion.
   • 1956, Allen Ginsberg, “America”, in Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series), City Lights Books, →OCLC, page 33:

     […] Scott Nearing was a grand old man a real mensch […]

   • 1960, Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond, The Apartment:

     Doctor Dreyfuss [to C. C. Baxter]: Be a mensch!

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, New York: Bloomsbury, →OCLC, page 428:

     Lionel Kessler, relaxing perhaps on a Louis Quinze day bed, garlanded all round with lines of beauty, seeing welcome proof that his clever maligned young friend was a mensch.

   • 2006 February 20, Paul Krugman, “The Mensch Gap”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Where have all the mensches gone? The character of the administration reflects the character of the man at its head.

   • 2008 December 28, George Solomon, “My Little Red Book”, in The Washington Post, page D01:

     Olie Kolzig: Goalie for the Washington Capitals who spent most of 16 seasons between the pipes for the team until being released in 2008. Had the longest career of any Capital. Now plays for Tampa Bay. The ultimate mensch, in my book.

   • 2008, Dwight S. Huggins, Into the Greenhouse Vol. VI: Dreams, →ISBN:

     She was an Amerindian, and stout. She was a real mensch, […] a hard working person, who took pride in her job, which was to spray from an aerosol can a particular base.

2. A gentleman.

派生語

• menschy