kibitz

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
21
Words With Friends
22
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈkɪbɪts/ (UK)

Definition of kibitz

3 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (intransitive)To make small talk or idle chatter.
    “Louise and I used to head down to the coffee shop and just sit for hours and kibitz.”
    “His wife Karen listened as John and I kibitzed about our experiences at the University of Oklahoma some 40 years ago.”
    “Okay, we kibitzed enough. What brings you?”
    “Their owners lounge at the outdoor tables, kibitzing about cranksets, aero bars, local races or, when they can help it, anything other than cycling.”
    “So how it’s gonna go is we’re gonna talk for about 45 minutes. We’re just gonna kibbitz here; that’s Yiddish for just kinda like […]”
See all 3 definitions

verb

  1. (intransitive)To make small talk or idle chatter.
    “Louise and I used to head down to the coffee shop and just sit for hours and kibitz.”
    “His wife Karen listened as John and I kibitzed about our experiences at the University of Oklahoma some 40 years ago.”
    “Okay, we kibitzed enough. What brings you?”
    “Their owners lounge at the outdoor tables, kibitzing about cranksets, aero bars, local races or, when they can help it, anything other than cycling.”
    “So how it’s gonna go is we’re gonna talk for about 45 minutes. We’re just gonna kibbitz here; that’s Yiddish for just kinda like […]”
  2. (intransitive)To give unsolicited or unwanted advice or make unhelpful or idle comments, especially to someone playing a game.
    “Quit kibitzing! You're giving away my hand!”
  3. (intransitive, transitive)To watch a card or board game.
    “[…] stayed in the dorm, although she lived in Brooklyn Heights, and I frequently spent long hours with her, either in her room or at the student lounge, where we drank coffee and smoked cigarettes and kibitzed the never-ending bridge game.”
    “When it was my turn to stay in the office until 11 pm. closing, I kibitzed on their poker games and heard some colorful tales.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Yiddish קיבעצן (kibetsn), cognate to German kiebitzen (“to look on”), from German Kiebitz (“lapwing”), from Middle High German gibiz (“plover”), imitative of its cry. Compare peewit.

Words you can make from kibitz

11 playable · top: BIZ (14 pts)

Best play biz 14 points

4-letter words

2 words

3-letter words

4 words

2-letter words

4 words

Find your best play with kibitz

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes kibitz, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.