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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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.
This is why it’s surprising that at the most recent BagelFest at New York’s Citifield, the award for Best Bagel went to Starship Bagel, based in…Dallas, Texas.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026
Appeared in the May 9, 2026, print edition as 'The World Has Officially Reached Peak Bagel'.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026
Swap out the poppy seeds for chia seeds and add sesame seeds, onion flakes, garlic powder and flaky sea salt to make an omega-3-rich rendition of the popular Everything Bagel Seasoning.
From Salon • Mar. 31, 2026
Paikin went on to run a Great Canadian Bagel franchise in Moscow.
From Slate • Nov. 13, 2025
J.T. and I—we’ll pig out on Bagel Bites and frozen cheese pizza—and we can put away a whole bag of spicy nacho chips between us.
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
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.
