Gemutlich

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: gÉ™mütʹlĭĸʜ, IPA: /ɡəˈmyːtlɪç/

Alternative forms

• gemuetlich
• gemütlich

Origin

From German gemütlich ("comfortable, cozy, genial, pleasant"), from Middle High German gemüetlich, from gemüet ("mind, mentality") + -lich ("-ly"), equivalent to Gemüt("mind, soul") + -lich("-ly"). More at mood, -ly.

Full definition of gemutlich

Adjective

1. Comfortable, cozy, snug, pleasant.1964, , Nation, Issues 135-159 Chapter , However, to any Nation readers who think that gemutlich is not “a living word" I am glad to be able to inform them that Harold Nicolson in his volume Good Behaviour has a whole chapter on Gemutlichkeit, ...1973, Edward G. Robinson, Leonard Spigelgass, All My Yesterdays Chapter , …and there's always a buzz of conversation and somebody's playing the piano, and it's gemutlich.
   To one of those particularly gemutlich evenings I invited a stockbroker who lived in Guilford, and he arrived with a lady named Gladys Lloyd.
2. Friendly, genial, cheerful, easy-going.1997-01-26, Judith Miller, FILM: Making Money Abroad, And Also a Few Enemies, The censors cut one in which Judd Hirsch, who plays Mr. Goldblum's gemutlich, Yiddish-spouting father,

Related terms

• gemuth
• gemutlichkeit