biscuit
Definitions
(British) A small, flat, crisp sweet cake; a cookie.
（英式）饼干，曲奇。
(American) A small, soft, savory bread roll, often served with meals.
（美式）软质咸味小面包（常佐餐）。
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedbis (twice) + cuit (cooked, from Latin coctus / coquere) = 'twice-cooked.' Long-voyage ship's biscuits were baked a second time to drive out moisture so they kept for months. The -cuit is the same 'cooked' that sits inside the root cook; the spelling just hides it.
Why It Means This
The 'twice-cooked' name comes from a real practice: ship's and army biscuits were baked, then baked again to remove all moisture so they wouldn't spoil at sea. Today the word splits across the Atlantic — in Britain a biscuit is a hard sweet cookie, while in America a biscuit is a soft, fluffy savory roll. Same word, two very different foods.
Usage Guide
Major British/American divide: BrE biscuit = AmE cookie (sweet, crisp). AmE biscuit = a soft bread roll (think KFC biscuit), which a Briton would not recognize as a 'biscuit.' Choose your word for your audience.
Example Sentences
- 1.
She dunked a chocolate biscuit into her tea.
- 2.
In the South, biscuits and gravy is a classic breakfast.
- 3.
We finished the whole packet of biscuits during the meeting.
Easily Confused
biscuit vs cookie vs cracker — In British English, biscuit covers both sweet (cookie) and savory (cracker) types. In American English, cookie = sweet, cracker = savory/crisp, and biscuit = a soft bread roll. So a 'biscuit' means opposite kinds of food depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on.