שלימזל

Yiddish

FWOTD – 15 September 2016

From Middle High German slim (“crooked”) and Hebrew מַזָּל (mazzāl, “luck”) . For the first part, cf. modern German schlimm (“bad, awful”).

שלימזל • (shlimazl) n

שלימזל • (shlimazl) m, plural שלימזלען (shlimazlen)

unlucky person, luckless person, person with perpetual bad luck
- 2014 May 18, Sergo Bengelsdorf, “מײַן ערשטע באַגעגעניש מיט „ייִדישפּיל‟ [mayn ershte bagegenish mit „yidishpil‟]”, in Der Forverts‎^[1]:
  ער איז אַ פּאָעט, אַ דראַמאַטורג, אַ קאָמפּאָזיטאָר, אַ נישקשהדיקער זינגער — און פֿאָרט אין דער זעלבער צײַט אַ נעבעכדיקער שלימזל, אַזוי ווי טרײַנסטמאַנס העלד.
  er iz a poet, a dramaturg, a kompozitor, a nishkoshediker zinger — un fort in der zelber tsayt a nebekhdiker shlimazl, azoy vi traynstmans held.
  He is a poet, a playwright, a composer, a not-so-bad singer – and then at the same time a miserable schlimazel, like Treinstman’s protagonist.
clumsy person
(derogatory) ne'er-do-well, good-for-nothing, complete failure

Can be used about both male and female alike