kvell

Sep. 27th, 2021 07:47 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
So I happened to have a handful of short words near the front of the posting queue, so what the hey, let's group them together and call it a theme week:


kvell (KVEL) - v., to feel delighted and proud, to boast, to gloat.


This is a 20th century Americanism, entering the English language in the mid-1960s (though it appeared in a guide to Jewish vocabulary in the mid-1950s) from Yiddish kveln, to be delighted, from Middle High German quellen, to well/gush/swell -- which is a pretty good guide to the type of feeling being described. The stereotypical kvelling is done over one's children's (or grandchildren's) accomplishments, but I'm sure we can come up with a wider applicability.

---L.

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