# bagel

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbeɪ.ɡəl/ · frequency rank #22,893

## Definitions
1. A toroidal bread roll that is boiled before it is baked.
2. A score of 6-0 in a set (after the shape of a bagel, which looks like a zero).
3. An overly materialistic and selfish young Jewish man.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Yiddish בייגל (beygl), ultimately from a diminutive of Middle High German bouc, boug- (“ring, bracelet”), from Old High German boug (“ring”), from Proto-West Germanic *baug, from Proto-Germanic *baugaz (“ring”).
Compare obsolete English bee, Old English bēag, Old Frisian bāg, Old Saxon bōg, Middle Low German bōg, Old Norse baugr. Also compare dialectal Austrian German Beugel, Beigel. See also beag.

## Easily confused with
- **bel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bel)
- **bal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bal)
- **base** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-base)
- **ball** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-ball)
- **bags** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bags)
- **bare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bare)
- **bail** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bail)
- **bake** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bake)
- **bale** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bale)
- **bane** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bane)
- **bate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bate)
- **Biel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-biel)
- **based** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-based)
- **baker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-baker)
- **bases** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bases)
- **baked** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-baked)
- **basil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-basil)
- **bates** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bates)
- **bowel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bowel)
- **Bauer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bagel-vs-bauer)

## Common misspellings (7)
`abgel`, `baegl`, `bagell`, `baggel`, `bagle`, `bbagel`, `bgael`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bagel