English Explanatory Dictionary

luftmensch

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. One more concerned with airy intellectual pursuits than practical matters like earning an income.
  2. a beggar, petty trader, peddler, and various types of paupers

Word forms

luftmensch luftmenschen

Etymology

From Yiddish לופֿטמענטש (luftmentsh), from לופֿט (luft, “air”) + מענטש (mentsh, “person”). Compare German von Luft und Liebe leben (“to disregard the practical matters of life”, literally “to live on air and love”), German Luftikus (“impractical, quixotic, or careless person”). The word first appeared in Yiddish literature in 1860s (Nicolas Vallois, "The Luftmentsh as an economic metaphor for Jewish poverty: a rhetorical analysis").

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