kvell

[ kvel ]

verb (used without object)

, Slang.

1. to be extraordinarily pleased; especially, to be bursting with pride, as over one's family.

kvell

/ kvɛl /

verb

1. informal.
   intr to be happy or show satisfaction

Word History and Origins

Origin of kvell¹

An Americanism first recorded in 1965–70; from Yiddish kveln “be delighted”; compare Middle High German, German quellen “well up, gush”

Word History and Origins

Origin of kvell¹

C20: from Yiddish kveln to well up

Example Sentences

Works would arrive and he would “just kvell,” he said.

From New York Times

We can only kvell that one of the world’s greatest writers has picked Los Angeles, after visiting almost every habitable spot on Earth, to make his home.

From Los Angeles Times

Karin Fuchs, a clinical psychologist in the United Kingdom has also been hearing her immigrant parents kvell at the history they see being revisited.

From Washington Post

He would prefer to kvell over the talents of his frequent collaborators Madeline Kahn, Gene Wilder and Carl Reiner, than linger on, or even mention, their departures from this crazy world.

From New York Times

It makes us kvell when something profoundly and fundamentally Jewish gets embraced by the world at large.

From Washington Post