schmuck

See also: Schmuck and schmück

English

Alternative forms

• schmock, shmock, shmuck, shmuk

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ʃmʌk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): /ʃmʊk/
• Rhymes: -ʌk

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: 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.

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

• schmuck insurance
• Schmucksville
• schmuckiness
• schmucky

Related terms

• schmeckle

Translations

jerk; unlikable, stupid, foolish, malicious, or unpleasant person

• Esperanto: kaculo (eo)
• Finnish: törppö (fi), mäntti (fi)
• German: Schmock (de) m, Arsch (de) m or n, Trottel (de) m, Depp (de) m, Dussel (de) m
• Hebrew: שמוק (he) m (shmók)
• Russian: чмо (ru) n (čmo), шмо́к m (šmók)
• Ukrainian: чмо (čmo), нікче́ма (nikčéma)

deplorable, pitiful person

• Finnish: raukka (fi), rukka (fi)
• German: Schlucker m, armer Schlucker m

Verb

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

• schlemiel

German

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ʃmʊk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: Schmuck
• Rhymes: -ʊk

Adjective

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

1. (dated) pretty, spruce

Declension

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

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