Luftmensch Looft Mensh Oo Foot Noun Impractical Dreamer Yiddish

An impractical dreamer.

[From Yiddish, from luft (air) + mensch (man, person), from German. Earliest documented use: 1907. A luftmensch is, literally, an airman, someone with his head in the clouds. A luftmensch is unconcerned with such practical matters as earning a living. Read about a luftmensch ("Dentist and Restaurateur") in this short story by Israel Zangwill.]

"Shavit thinks himself a hardened realist, but maybe he's another kind of luftmensch." - Geoffrey Wheatcroft; A Romantic Dream; The Spectator (London, UK); Feb 22, 2014.