kibitz

pronunciation

How to pronounce kibitz in British English: UK ['kɪbɪts]word uk audio image

How to pronounce kibitz in American English: US ['kɪbɪts] word us audio image

  • Verb:
    make unwanted and intrusive comments

Word Origin

kibitz (v.)
1927, from Yiddish kibitsen "to offer gratuitous advice as an outsider," from German kiebitzen "to look on at cards, to kibitz," originally in thieves' cant "to visit," from Kiebitz, name of a shore bird (European pewit, lapwing) with a folk reputation as a meddler, from Middle High German gibitz "pewit," imitative of its cry. Young lapwings are proverbially precocious and active, and were said to run around with half-shells still on their heads soon after hatching.