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schmuck

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Schmuck and schmück

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Yiddish שמאָק (shmok, “penis, fool”). Further origin uncertain. Probably from Old Polish ćmok (“dim lighted”), or Bulgarian смок (smok, “grass snake”). Perhaps akin to onomatopoeic Russian смоктать (smoktatʹ) smoktat ("to suck") according to old belief that snakes suck milk from animals. Alternatively a baby-talk corruption of Yiddish שמעקל (shmekl), a dissimilated form of שטעקל (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

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Noun

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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: see Thesaurus:jerk
    • 1995 September, “The Playboy Interview: Cindy Crawford”, in 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.
    • 2022 October 18, Placeholder McD, “SCP-7579 [offset 1]”, in SCP Foundation‎[1], archived from the original on 20 December 2024:
      "SCP-7579 developed internal camouflage so a shmuck like yourself would speculate on it, then convince a more powerful shmuck unlike myself to buy it time. It's probably smarter than us, it's definitely smarter than you, and every second of its existence exponentiates the time and resources I'll have to spend cleaning up your mess."
  2. (colloquial, derogatory) A deplorable, pitiful person.
    poor schmuck
    • 1971, Jules Feiffer, directed by Mike Nichols, Carnal Knowledge, spoken by Jonathan (Jack Nicholson):
      Bad vibrations? Sandy, I love you, but you're a schmuck. You were always young, Sandy, open. You were schmucky a lot of the time, but maybe schmuckiness is what you need to stay young and open.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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schmuck (third-person singular simple present schmucks, present participle schmucking, simple past and past participle schmucked)

  1. (slang, intransitive, rare) To behave like a schmuck.
    • 2004, George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?:
      […] there's actually a shortage of schmucks in America. As a result, there's big money in schmucking. The average schmuck earns $28,000 a year, plus benefits.
  2. (slang, transitive, rare) To mash or smoosh.
    • 2008, Richard Powell, Rode Hard and Put Away Wet, page 171:
      His buddy was supposed to be arriving from Helena that morning but had schmucked a mule deer buck with his vehicle so there was going to be a delay.
    • 2020, Joseph Heywood, Shadow of the Wolf Tree, page 130:
      “She schmucked three deer on M-95,” del Olmo said. “I was two minutes behind her. Man, she blew them up! […]
    • 2021, Victoria Pearle Hart, Ladies of the Mountain:
      Everyone gathered around the cake as Mitch and Liz prepared to cut the cake. She took a small piece in her hand, and Mitch said, "What are you doing with that, babe?" and she schmucked it into his mouth. He did the same right back.

See also

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German

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Etymology

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Borrowed 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

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Adjective

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schmuck (strong nominative masculine singular schmucker, comparative schmucker, superlative am schmucksten)

  1. (dated) pretty, spruce

Declension

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Positive forms of schmuck
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist schmuck sie ist schmuck es ist schmuck sie sind schmuck
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative schmucker schmucke schmuckes schmucke
genitive schmucken schmucker schmucken schmucker
dative schmuckem schmucker schmuckem schmucken
accusative schmucken schmucke schmuckes schmucke
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der schmucke die schmucke das schmucke die schmucken
genitive des schmucken der schmucken des schmucken der schmucken
dative dem schmucken der schmucken dem schmucken den schmucken
accusative den schmucken die schmucke das schmucke die schmucken
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein schmucker eine schmucke ein schmuckes (keine) schmucken
genitive eines schmucken einer schmucken eines schmucken (keiner) schmucken
dative einem schmucken einer schmucken einem schmucken (keinen) schmucken
accusative einen schmucken eine schmucke ein schmuckes (keine) schmucken
Comparative forms of schmuck
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist schmucker sie ist schmucker es ist schmucker sie sind schmucker
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative schmuckerer schmuckere schmuckeres schmuckere
genitive schmuckeren schmuckerer schmuckeren schmuckerer
dative schmuckerem schmuckerer schmuckerem schmuckeren
accusative schmuckeren schmuckere schmuckeres schmuckere
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der schmuckere die schmuckere das schmuckere die schmuckeren
genitive des schmuckeren der schmuckeren des schmuckeren der schmuckeren
dative dem schmuckeren der schmuckeren dem schmuckeren den schmuckeren
accusative den schmuckeren die schmuckere das schmuckere die schmuckeren
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein schmuckerer eine schmuckere ein schmuckeres (keine) schmuckeren
genitive eines schmuckeren einer schmuckeren eines schmuckeren (keiner) schmuckeren
dative einem schmuckeren einer schmuckeren einem schmuckeren (keinen) schmuckeren
accusative einen schmuckeren eine schmuckere ein schmuckeres (keine) schmuckeren
Superlative forms of schmuck
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist am schmucksten sie ist am schmucksten es ist am schmucksten sie sind am schmucksten
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative schmuckster schmuckste schmuckstes schmuckste
genitive schmucksten schmuckster schmucksten schmuckster
dative schmuckstem schmuckster schmuckstem schmucksten
accusative schmucksten schmuckste schmuckstes schmuckste
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der schmuckste die schmuckste das schmuckste die schmucksten
genitive des schmucksten der schmucksten des schmucksten der schmucksten
dative dem schmucksten der schmucksten dem schmucksten den schmucksten
accusative den schmucksten die schmuckste das schmuckste die schmucksten
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein schmuckster eine schmuckste ein schmuckstes (keine) schmucksten
genitive eines schmucksten einer schmucksten eines schmucksten (keiner) schmucksten
dative einem schmucksten einer schmucksten einem schmucksten (keinen) schmucksten
accusative einen schmucksten eine schmuckste ein schmuckstes (keine) schmucksten

Further reading

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  • “schmuck” in Duden online
  • “schmuck” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
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