Shmendrik (), also rendered as schmendrick or shmendrick is a Yiddish word meaning a stupid person or a little hapless jerk ("a pathetic sad sack"Etiquette for Schmucks, Schlemiels, Schlimazels and Schmendriks, Forward, May 12, 2010). Its origin is the name of a clueless mama's boy played by Sigmund Mogulesko in Abraham Goldfaden's 1877 comedy Shmendrik, oder di komishe Chaseneh (Schmendrik or The Comical Wedding) .shmendrik, Jewish English Lexiconschmendrick, Oxford English Dictionary The play was inspired by a sketch Mogulesko performed at an audition before Goldfaden. Since then the word has often been used as a name in works of Jewish humor.
The Joys of Yiddish lexicon stresses the meagerness of "shmendrik" compared to other Jewish schm-words for luckless persons: "A shmendrik is a small, short, weak, thin, a young nebekh". This is directly opposite to mentsh (more commonly spelled "mensch") which means a "real" man of upstanding character.The Joys of Yiddish: p. 353Michael Wex, How to Be a Mentsh (And Not a Shmuck), 2009
Notable usages Shmendrik, oder di komishe Chaseneh, original usage Shmendrick is a "wise Man of Chelm" in the 1999 Canadian animated comedy Village of Idiots Schmendrick the Magician, wizard from the fantasy novel The Last Unicorn, which was made into an animated film and had a sequel, Two Hearts. The author, Peter S. Beagle, said he took the name from the Yiddish term, which he described as "somebody out of his depth, the boy sent to do a man's job, someone who has expanded to the limits of his incapacity".Beagle, Peter S. (2007). The Last Unicorn. Deluxe Edition. New York: Roc Books. Shosshi Schmendrik is a socially awkward, shy carpenter in the 1899 play Children of the Ghetto
See also Schlemiel and Shlimazl Schmuck
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