schmo

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ʃməʊ/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊ

Etymology 1[edit]

From Yiddish, alteration of schmuck.[1]

Noun[edit]

schmo (plural schmos or schmoes)

  1. A stupid, obnoxious, pathetic, or otherwise contemptible person.
    • 2008, Ben Yagoda, chapter IV, in When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It, Crown, →ISBN:
      The poor schmo would immediately break down and confess that he did a lot of other bad things as well.
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

See Joe Schmoe § Etymology; schmo in this sense may well be homonymic to schmo in the sense above.

Noun[edit]

schmo (plural schmos or schmoes)

  1. Any average Joe; any Joe Schmoe.
    I'm just an average schmo
    • 2010, Dana Milbank, Tears of a Clown, New York: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 31:
      Of his early childhood, he told the Deseret News of Salt Lake City: “I'm a schmo. My family never made more than $25,000 a year. We're all bakers for generations.”

References[edit]

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024), “schmoe”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.