To feel and openly express pride and joy, especially on behalf of someone else's accomplishments (classically one's children or grandchildren)..
To feel and openly express pride and joy, especially on behalf of someone else's accomplishments (classically one's children or grandchildren).
Specifically vicarious, outwardly expressed pride; pairs with naches (the pride one derives from another). Not to be confused with kvetch (“to complain”), an unrelated near-homophone.
“to well up / gush / swell” (with pride).
From Yiddish kveln “to be delighted,” from Middle High German quellen “to well, gush, swell.” The pride sense is a metaphorical extension of physical “welling up.”
Entered English in the mid-20th century; OED's earliest evidence dates to 1940, with a 1952 handbook of Jewish expressions among the earliest print sources.