meshuggener

noun

me·​shug·​gen·​er mə-ˈshu̇-gə-nər 

plural meshuggeners

: a foolish or eccentric person

Whoever decided to remake The Producers in 2005 was a meshuggener.

—David Robson

Did you know?

Meshuggener Has Yiddish Roots

From bagel and chutzpah to shtick and yenta, Yiddish has given English many a colorful term over the years. Meshuggener is another example of what happens when English interprets that rich Jewish language. Meshuggener comes from the Yiddish meshugener, which in turn derives from meshuge, an adjective that is synonymous with crazy or foolish. English speakers have used the adjective form, meshuga or meshugge, to mean "foolish" since the late 1800s; we've dubbed foolish folk meshuggeners since at least 1900.

Word History

Etymology

Yiddish meshugener, from meshuge

First Known Use

1900, in the meaning defined above

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