bagel
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bagel
1930–35; < Yiddish beygl; compare dialectal German Beugel < Germanic *baug- ring ( see bee 2) + *-il- noun suffix
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Explanation
A bagel is a kind of baked good made by boiling and then baking a circle of dough until the inside is chewy and the outside is slightly crisp. New York is famous for having many great bagel shops. A bagel is a traditional Jewish roll that's shaped like a doughnut and often served sliced in half, toasted, and spread with butter or cream cheese. New Yorkers claim that their city has the best bagels in the world, although Montreal is also known for its delicious bagels. The word is from the Yiddish beygl, with an Old High German root, boug, or "ring," which describes a bagel's shape.
Vocabulary lists containing bagel
More English Words Derived from Yiddish
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List 2
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for December 4–December 10, 2021
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It was the first time a woman had won a Wimbledon final with a double bagel - the name given to a victory without dropping a game - since Dorothea Lambert Chambers in 1911.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
She’s one of us, a fan of an onion bagel for breakfast, even if it makes her breath stink.
From Salon • Jun. 3, 2026
Queer women are being credited for bringing the fun back to San Francisco with dozens of new restaurants, wine and cocktail bars, breweries, bagel shops and pizzerias.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2026
Other variations he has made, including riffs on a California roll and a smoked salmon bagel, have also gone viral.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
He reached in his backpack and dug out the last bit of food from his trip—a stale bagel.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
