knaidel

American

[kneyd-l] / ˈkneɪd l /

noun

Jewish Cooking.

a dumpling, especially a small ball of matzo meal, eggs, and salt, often mixed with another foodstuff, as ground almonds or grated potato, usually served in soup.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

knaidlach

plural

Etymology

Origin of knaidel

1950–55; < Yiddish kneydl dumpling; compare Middle High German knödel lump, ovary of a flower, German Knödel dumpling

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.

Last week a Yiddish linguistic institute contested the results of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, claiming that the winning word, knaidel, another name for a matzo ball, should actually be spelled kneydl.

From Slate • Jun. 7, 2013

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023