prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2014-01-29 07:25 am

untermensch

untermensch (UN-ter-mensh) - n., under-man, sub-human.


The opposite of the Nietzschean ubermensch, super-man. Nietzsche used it for the common masses that the ubermensch rose above, but the Nazis spun it as specifically meaning subhuman, using it for Jews and Slavs. Which is to say, use this term with care. From German, natch -- under-man is a literal translation.

---L.