Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To complain persistently and whiningly.
- n. A chronic, whining complainer.
- n. A nagging complaint: "a rambling kvetch against the system” ( Leonard Ross).
Wiktionary
- n. Person who endlessly whines or complains.
- n. Person who finds fault with anything.
- adj. Describing a kvetch or kvetcher.
- v. To whine or complain, often needlessly.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (Yiddish) a constant complainer
- v. express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness
- n. (Yiddish) a nagging complaint
Etymologies
- From Yiddish קוועטשן (kvetshn), from German Quetsche ("crusher, presser"), from quetschen ("crush, press"). (Wiktionary)
- Yiddish kvetshn, to squeeze, complain, from Middle High German quetzen, quetschen, to squeeze. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“However, if you feel the need to kvetch, why not follow @kvetch and direct message your complaints?”
“Some refer to us by using the Yiddish word "kvetch," which translates as "a whining complainer.”
“To the so-called experts on the Yiddish word "kvetch": The "k" is not silent, but maybe you should be.”
“It takes its name from the Yiddish word "kvetch," which means to complain or nag.”
“And the rest of tired of the same old''s kvetch is due to the past 8 years of bad leadership on 1600 Penn.”
“As if he knew that excuse fell on deeply offended ears, Father Francis Gower had added, in a complaining tone that brought to my mind the Yiddish word kvetch, My old bones couldn’t stand the weather, anyway.”
“Or, Pouring Ketchup On An Over-cooked Campaign, or Ketchup Money to Help Campaign Catch Up, or some sort of bad pun involving Ketchup, money and catch up bonus points if you can also work "kvetch" into the pun*:Unlike Dean and Bush, Kerry said he will put his own money into the campaign, becoming the first Democrat in at least 20 years to do so.”
“Sprinkled throughout the delightful, lighthearted tale are common Yiddish phrases such as kvetch, chutzpah and Oy Gevalt!, with a glossary in the back.”
“The New York Times 'David Brooks chalked up Hastings scoop to one more example of our "kvetch" culture.”
“Brooks laments the inability of today's elite figures to "kvetch," to blow off ...”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kvetch’.
-
Yiddishkeit
There are a few short lists of Yiddish words, but none appropriate to the glory of the language, and none that are open. Thought I'd start one, and would love contributions. I'm tagging as I go, an...
schmuck, nosh, chutzpah, shtick, kvetch, oy vey, oy gevalt, shvitz, shtik, shiksa, putz, mensch and 94 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
May 2013
ungulate, kvetch, scintilla, clandestine, vis-a-vis, pygmy, dour, sodomite, erythematous, purveyor, blandishment, tontine and 1 more...
-
ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
-
Appellations
States of ment.
off kilter, fervent, nonchalant, exuberant, turbid, verbose, eloquent, vicarious, gallivant, orotund, amalgamate, accentuate and 285 more...
-
thekatespanos's list
pomposity, gaggle, scintilla, lemming, bilk, vanquish, conflate, plenary, verisimilitude, perspicacious, rattletrap, obdurate and 325 more...
-
This week's words
hand-handled, crouch, hootchy-kootchy, gloriole, glory hole, metempsychosis, doctrinaire, transmigration, celestial, treetop, luxuriant, physic and 102 more...
-
There's a word for that?
temerity, tacit, froward, faineant, caterwaul, menagerie, ennui, sine qua non, lissom, multifarious, laconic, katzenjammer and 240 more...
-
Logophile, The Back Page (AKA: just c...
node, nexus, locus, toroidal, ivory, kestrel, lyre, muscat, caldera, tapestry, codex, paragon and 103 more...
-
edes's Words
table talk, tuneful, bestrewn, determinate fashion, unpretending, personage, duly impressed, shirring, caw, hatchet job, gummy, comely and 225 more...
-
word set 12
plasmasphere, cockatrice, delimitable, precipitancy, trellising, thermochromism, cadenza, tentaculiferous, fluctiferous, circumambient, loblolly, trailing edge and 142 more...
-
NeoVolt's Words
schadenfreude, serendipity, idiosyncrasy, loess, caducous, vagary, schematic, steeple, licentious, tangential, verisimilitude, vernacular and 385 more...
-
madamepsychosis's Words
mollify, salubrious, prandial, coup de grace, ineluctable, metempsychosis, pedant, conatus, oeuvre, laconic, solipsism, vapid and 265 more...
-
sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
-
lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
-
beautiful words
quench, metropolitan, dollop, cucumber, aesthetic, superfluous, gastronomy, nymph, obsequious, serendipity, champagne, gossamer and 125 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kvetch.
emperornorton Kvetch kvetch kvetch. Jan 5, 2009
garyth123 There's a guy at my work and all he does is kvetch all day long. Dec 7, 2008