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pretzel.

A toasted bread or cracker usually in the shape of a loose knot.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈpɹɛt.səl/[ˈpʰɹɛʔt͡sɫ̩]

  1. A toasted bread or cracker usually in the shape of a loose knot.

  2. Anything that is knotted, twisted, or tangled.

    broadly · figuratively
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ˈpɹɛt.səl/[ˈpʰɹɛʔt͡sɫ̩]

  1. To bend, twist, or contort.

    Canada · US · informal · transitive
    They discovered a snake pretzelled into knots.
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.