Skip to content
word of the day

The word for today is…

schlemazel also schlimazel (noun) – An extremely unlucky or inept person; a habitual failure.

Source : The Free Dictionary

Etymology : “Born loser,” 1948, from Yiddish shlim mazel “rotten luck,” from Middle High German slim “crooked” + Hebrew mazzal “luck.” British slang shemozzle “an unhappy plight” (1889) is probably from the same source.

A shlemiel is the fellow who climbs to the top of a ladder with a bucket of paint and then drops it. A shimazl is the fellow on whose head the bucket falls. [Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D.-N.Y.), 1986]

Latest