kvetch

[kvech]

verb (used without object)

1. to complain, especially chronically.

noun

1. Also kvetcher. a person who kvetches.

kvetch

/ kvɛtʃ /

verb

1. slang,  (intr) to complain or grumble, esp incessantly

Word History and Origins

Origin of kvetch¹

1960–65, < Yiddish kvetshn literally, to squeeze, pinch; compare Middle High German, German quetschen

Word History and Origins

Origin of kvetch¹

C20: from Yiddish kvetshn, literally: to squeeze, press

Example Sentences

While Maron sometimes kvetches about Feinartz’s hovering cameras, he seems to have given him a kind of all-access pass to his daily life in a way that belies his trademark crankiness.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Yet his kvetching about the creative constraints of the pop song are pretty rich coming from a master of the form.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Three is either a charm or a curse – depending on your point of view – and there are plenty of people gloating or kvetching today.

Read more on Salon

“People, and particularly women, tend to kvetch and converse and complain about what offends them, and then they vote according to what affects them,” she said.

Read more on BBC

It’s a screeching, sputtering display of kvetching that builds runaway comic momentum.

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

• carp 
• grumble 
• moan 
• murmur 
• mutter 
• nag 
• squawk