gemütlich

or ge·muet·lich

[ guh-moot-lik, -moot-; German guh-myt-likh ]

adjective

1. comfortable and pleasant; cozy.

   Synonyms: pleasant, comfortable, agreeable

2. friendly; easygoing.

   Synonyms: relaxed, approachable, affable, amiable

gemütlich

/ ɡəˈmyːtlɪç /

adjective

1. having a feeling or atmosphere of warmth and friendliness; cosy

Word History and Origins

Origin of gemütlich¹

First recorded in 1850–55; from German; late Middle High German gemüetlich, equivalent to gemüet(e) ( German Gemüt ) “mind, mentality” (collective derivative of mut, Old High German muot “courage, spirit”; mood ¹ ) + -lich -ly

Example Sentences

The production, spryly directed by Barry Heins, takes place on a gemütlich set by Evan A. Bartoletti that looks like Vermont through a Laura Ashley filter.

From Los Angeles Times

“I don’t want to feel gemütlich,” he said, using the German word for cozy.

From New York Times

It is gemütlich in German and gezelligheid in Dutch; in English, you might say “smelly candles”.

From The Guardian

Cinema’s most famously pioneering sex scene is in the Czech-Austrian movie Ecstasy from 1933, a time when the Hays Code was clamping down on this sort of thing in Hollywood, and when in Europe Hitlerism would frown on anything other than bombastically mythic patriotism or gemütlich Merry Widow naughtiness in the cinema.

From The Guardian

Yet there are no gemütlich touches.

From The New Yorker