Nebbish

//ˈnɛ.bɪʃ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who is fearful, indecisive and timid, especially in making decisions and plans, in discussions, debates, arguments, and confrontations, and in taking responsibility.

    "Actor Rick Moranis often plays a nebbish."

  2. 2
    (Yiddish) a timid unfortunate simpleton wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
a nobodya nothingbabybig babychickenchopped liver

Example

More examples

"Actor Rick Moranis often plays a nebbish."

Etymology

From American Yiddish נעביש (nebish), from נעבעך (nebekh, “poor, unfortunate”).

Related phrases

nebbish-like

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.