biscuit

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A soft and flaky American biscuit (2) on the left and a hard British biscuit (1) on the right.
This American biscuit (2) has been broken open to show its interior; honey is being drizzled onto it.
The hard, flat, baked goods in tins like these are sometimes sold as biscuits (1) even in America, not just in the UK.
La Nourrice biscuit (5) after Louis Boizot.

Etymology

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PIE word
*dwóh₁

From earlier bisket, from Middle English bisquyte, from Old French bescuit (French biscuit); doublet of biscotto.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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biscuit (countable and uncountable, plural biscuits)

  1. (UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, sometimes Canada, rare in the US and the Philippines) A small, flat, baked good which is either hard and crisp or else soft but firm; a cookie.
    • 1992 October 3, Edwina Currie, Diary:
      Weighed myself at the gym and have hit 10st 8lb, a sure sign of things getting out of control—so I can’t even console myself with a chocolate biscuit.
  2. (chiefly Canada, US, rare in Scotland and Guernsey) A small, usually soft and flaky bread, generally made with baking soda, which is similar in texture to a scone but which is usually not sweet.
  3. (UK, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia) A cracker.
    cheese and biscuits
    water biscuits
    digestive biscuits
  5. (especially nautical) The breadlike foodstuff formerly supplied to naval ships and armies, which was made with very little water, kneaded into flat cakes, and slowly baked, and which often became infested with weevils.
    Coordinate term: bread
    Near-synonym: tack
  6. A form of unglazed earthenware.
    Synonyms: biscuitware, biscuitry
    • 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 87:
      Charm'd by your touch, the kneaded clay refines, / The biscuit hardens, the enamel shines […] .
    • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 202:
      In 1740, Thomas Whieldon of Little Fenton made 'toys' in either the clay or biscuit state. They were coloured with zaffre, copper, manganese, etc. and glazed with black, red or white lead.
    • 2004, Frank Hamer with Janet Hamer, The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques, 5th edition, London, Philadelphia, Penn.: A & C Black; University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 248:
      An overfired biscuit has insufficient porosity for glazing.
  7. A light brown colour.
    biscuit:  
  8. (woodworking) A thin oval wafer of wood or other material inserted into mating slots on pieces of material to be joined to provide gluing surface and strength in shear.
    Synonyms: dowel, finger joint, glue strip, spline
  9. (US, slang) A plastic card bearing the codes for authorizing a nuclear attack.
  10. (US, slang, hiphop) A handgun, especially a revolver.
    • 2007, Army of the Pharaohs (lyrics and music), “Bloody Tears”, in Ritual of Battle:
      I shoot my biscuit in the air until the sky is gone
  11. (ice hockey, shuffleboard) A puck (hockey puck).
  12. (slang) The head.
    • 2012 April 2, Nicki Minaj (lyrics and music), “Beez in the Trap” (track 4), in Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded‎[1]:
      Damn, damn, what they say about me?
      I don't know man, fuck is on your biscuit
    • 2013 September 17, Jeezy featured by YG (lyrics and music), “My Nigga”, in My Krazy Life‎[2], track 7:
      Me and my down ass nigga get twisted
      Nigga get to trippin', knock the gravy out your biscuit
    • 2019 October 4, Lil Tjay featured by Pop Smoke (lyrics and music), “War”, in Meet The Woo 2‎[3], track 13 0:47:
      Henny right here, I'ma sip it
      You try me, it's shots at your biscuit
    • 2022 December 1, YOUNGESTSAV (lyrics and music), “District”, PressPlay, 0:26 and oftener:
      […] Risk it, you get slapped in your biscuit

Usage notes

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  • In North America, a biscuit is a small, soft baked bread similar to a scone but not sweet. In some cases, it can be hard (see dog biscuit). In the United Kingdom, a biscuit is a small, crisp or firm, sweet baked good — the sort of thing which in North America is called a cookie. (Less frequently, British speakers refer to crackers as biscuits.) In North America, even small, layered baked sweets like Oreos are referred to as cookies, while in the UK, typically only those biscuits which have chocolate chips, nuts, fruit, or other things baked into them are also called cookies.
  • Throughout the English-speaking world, thin, crispy, salty or savoury baked breads like in this image (saltine crackers) are called crackers, while thin, crispy, sweet baked goods like in this image (Nilla Wafers) and this image (wafer sticks) are wafers.
  • Both the US and the UK distinguish crackers, wafers and cookies/biscuits from cakes: the former are generally hard or crisp and become soft when stale, while the latter is generally soft or moist and becomes hard when stale.

Quotations

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For quotations using this term, see Citations:biscuit.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

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French

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French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology

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Inherited from Old French bescuit, from Early Medieval Latin biscoctus (literally “twice-baked”). Doublet of biscotte and biscotto.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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biscuit m (plural biscuits)

  1. biscuit (cookie)

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Further reading

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Italian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French biscuit. Doublet of biscotto.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /biˈskwi/°, /biˈskwi/*
  • Rhymes: -i

Noun

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biscuit m (invariable)

  1. biscuit (white earthenware)
  2. wafer (for ice cream)

Anagrams

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Romanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French biscuit. Doublet of pișcot, which came from Hungarian.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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biscuit m (plural biscuiți)

  1. biscuit, cookie
  2. biscuit (white earthenware)

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative biscuit biscuitul biscuiți biscuiții
genitive-dative biscuit biscuitului biscuiți biscuiților
vocative biscuitule biscuiților

See also

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Further reading

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