pretzel
/ˈpɹɛt.səl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.98 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "When I was young, the best Philadelphia could do in the way of combining music and eating—or principally drinking—was at the Mäennerchor Garden at Ninth and Green, where a pretzel might be had with a glass of beer, or a sherry cobbler"
- "Outside, the little birds on the telegraph wires looked in at the moving picture and smiled at one another. Some even wept. Then they flew down into the street and simply raved over a stale pretzel, ten days dead."
- "he drew himself up into a regular pretzel of a boy"
- "They discovered a snake pretzelled into knots."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mreǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus Proto-Hellenic *brəkʰús Ancient Greek βρᾰχῠ́ς (brăkhŭ́s) Proto-Indo-European *-yōsder. Proto-Indo-European *-isō Proto-Hellenic *-ihō Ancient Greek -ῑ́ων (-ī́ōn) Ancient Greek βρᾰχῑ́ων (brăkhī́ōn)bor. Latin bracchium Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin brāchiātus Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin -ellus Vulgar Latin *brāchiātellusbor. Old High German brēzitella Middle High German brēzel German Brezel German Pretzelbor. English pretzel From dialectal German Pretzel, a variant of standard Brezel, from Old High German brēzitella, from Vulgar Latin *brāchiātellus, diminutive of Latin brāchium, bracchium (“arm”); named for the appearance of folded arms.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: Pretzel, brēzitella, *brāchiātellus, brāchium
Usage
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Informal
- Transitive verb
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Food.