luftmensch

English

Etymology

From Yiddish לופֿטמענטש (luftmentsh), from לופֿט (luft, “air”) + מענטש (mentsh, “person”). Compare German von Luft und Liebe leben (“to disregard the practical matters of life”, literally “to live on air and love”), German Luftikus (“impractical, quixotic, or careless person”). The word first appeared in Yiddish literature in the 1860s (Nicolas Vallois, The Luftmentsh as an economic metaphor for Jewish poverty: a rhetorical analysis).

Noun

luftmensch (plural luftmenschen)

(slang) A person who is highly intellectual or contemplative but detached from practical affairs, especially the need to earn a living.
My wife is such a luftmensch she missed our anniversary dinner because she was too busy reading her books!
- March 24, 2007, Helen McLean, “Marc of Distinction”, in The Globe and Mail, Books, page D6:
  Chagall was a luftmensch, he says, a man of the air...
(slang, Yiddish) A beggar, a petty trader, a peddler, and various types of paupers.