wisenheimer

/ˌwaɪzənˈhaɪmər/

Other forms: wisenheimers

Feel free to call your annoying younger cousin a wisenheimer, especially if he is an irritatingly smug show-off.

The word wisenheimer, more or less a synonym of "smart aleck," is taking on a rather old-fashioned feel these days which it's fully entitled to, being more than 100 years old. It's an American coinage, slotted into a familiar sound pattern of surnames ending in -heimer, which is probably the legacy of 19th- and 20th-century German immigration.

Definitions of wisenheimer

1. noun

   an upstart who makes conceited, sardonic, insolent comments
   synonyms: smart aleck, weisenheimer, wise guy

   type of:

   upstart

   an arrogant or presumptuous person