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Permanent link for this word: kibitzer

Oct 3, 2014

This week's theme
Words borrowed from Yiddish

This week's words
luftmensch
pisher
ganef
macher
kibitzer

Art: Giovanni Garinei

This week's comments
AWADmail 640

Next week's theme
Words to describe people

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

kibitzer

PRONUNCIATION:

(KIB-it-suhr)

MEANING:

noun: An onlooker who offers unwanted advice or criticism, for example at a card game.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Yiddish kibitsen, from German kiebitzen (to look on at cards), from Kiebitz (busybody, literally pewit or lapwing, a bird with a bad reputation as a meddler). Earliest documented use: 1927.

USAGE:

"Don't listen to the Internet kibitzers. Arthur Chu is playing the game right."
Ken Jennings; Arthur Chu Is Playing Jeopardy! the Right Way; Slate (New York); Feb 10, 2014.

See more usage examples of kibitzer in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests. -Gore Vidal, author (1925-2012)

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