• kvetch •
Pronunciation: kvech • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, noun
Meaning: To gripe, complain, whine persistently.
Notes: Here is yet another gift from Yiddish, where it means "to talk tediously at great length". The verb may be used as a noun synonymous with kvetcher, which has only been around since 1968. It also comes with an adjective, kvetchy, meaning "given to kvetching".
In Play: This word has a light-hearted, even comic touch, capitalized on in the title of Michael Wex's 2005 bestseller Born to Kvetch. Otherwise, we hear it in expressions like this: "People love to kvetch about taxes and politics."
Word History: Yiddish derived today's Good Word from the verb kvetshen "to pinch, squeeze, press", from the extended sense of squeezing the last drop out of something. This word was taken from German quetschen "to squeeze, crush, bruise", with an ancient English cousin quest "to crush" (up to the 17th century), and a Modern Dutch cousin kwetsen "to hurt, wound, offend". This word descended from PIE gwedh- "to push, hit, harm", which survived in only a few contemporary IE languages, like Latvian graut "destroy, demolish, thrash", Lithuanian gesti "to perish", and the Dutch and German words above. We find its remains in a few ancient languages, like Sanskrit gandh- "bump, poke, injure", and ancient Greek dennos "reproach". (Let's not give Arnaldo Mandel anything to kvetch about but thank him for suggesting today's rather funny Good Word.)
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