{"id":13027,"date":"2021-05-26T20:24:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T20:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13027"},"modified":"2021-05-26T20:24:13","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T20:24:13","slug":"the-german-word-mensch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-german-word-mensch\/","title":{"rendered":"The German Word ‘Mensch’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hallo! In today\u2019s post we\u2019re going to look at the German word der Mensch<\/em><\/strong> in greater detail. I will tell you what it means, the different ways it\u2019s used, and a few alternative words with the same or similar meanings. Let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n

\"mensch\"

Photo by Ryoji Iwata<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

He\u2019s a really great guy!<\/h2>\n

You may have heard or seen this word before, not just because you are learning German, but because it made its way into the English language, too; to call someone a \u2018mensch\u2019 in American English is to say they are a really decent human being. To be exact, this word came into English via the Yiddish mentsh<\/em>, which came from the German Mensch<\/em>. But what does this word mean in German, and how is it used?<\/p>\n

Der Mensch<\/h2>\n

The simplest and most direct translation of der Mensch is human<\/em> or person<\/em>. Although the word is of a masculine gender (der<\/strong>) and is used more for men than women as a loanword in the English language (\u2018He\u2019s a true mensch\u2019), der Mensch in German refers to everybody \u2013 M\u00e4nner<\/em> (men), Frauen<\/em> (women), and Kinder<\/em> (children).<\/p>\n

Here are a few words that contain the word Mensch, and what they mean:<\/p>\n