What is yiddish for fool?

Answer 1

Schmuck

Not really. "Shmuck" is actually a very bad word children get punished for saying, and adults don't use in polite conversation. It's a very nasty thing to call someone, and is generally reserved for people who are abusive toward other people-- people who kick puppies for amusement, and drug their dates so they won't say "No."

A literal fool, someone who is easy to cheat, is a "nar." A sort of luckless person, who can never quite get things to work out well, is a shlemiel; a person who is well-meaning, but usually manages to say the wrong thing, is a schlub.

A word for a "jerk," that describes someone who isn't so well-meaning, and does put other people down, but is a little more polite than "shmuck" is "putz."

Lenny Bruce used the word "shmuck" in his stand-up comedy, in order to get a word past the censors that he wouldn't have been able to use, had he said the English equivalent. As a result, non-Yiddish speakers got the impression the word was innocuous. Be careful when using the word "shmuck" around Yiddish speakers.