bagel

American  

[bey-guhl] / ˈbeɪ gəl /

noun

bagels plural

1. a leavened, doughnut-shaped, firm-textured roll, with a brownish glazed surface, made of dough first poached and then baked.

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bagel British  

/ ˈbeɪɡəl /

noun

1. a hard ring-shaped bread roll, characteristic of Jewish baking

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bagels
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bagel

1930–35; < Yiddish beygl; compare dialectal German Beugel < Germanic *baug- ring ( see bee ²) + *-il- noun suffix

Compare meaning

How does bagel compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• bialy vs. bagel

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.

Example Sentences

Starship Bagel, which is not based in New York—or even London or Montreal, cities with venerable bagel traditions of their own—but in Dallas, Texas.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026

But some far-flung shops have gotten so good at the craft that they’ve actually reversed the flow of bagel migration, said Oren Salomon of Starship 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