Standard Lemma guide

biscuit

noun · verb · 17 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈbɪs.kɪt/
  • Received-Pronunciation: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • New-Zealand: /ˈbəs.kət/
  • /bɪs.keʈ/
  • [ˈbɪs.kë̞ʈ]
  • /bɪs.kɪʈ/
  • [ˈbɪs.kɪʈ]
  • /bɪs.kʊʈ/
  • [ˈbɪs.kʊʈ]
  • /bɪs.kəʈ/
  • [ˈbɪs.kɐʈ]
  • rhymes with -ɛt
  • rhymes with -ɪt
  • rhymes with -ɪskɪt
  • rhymes with -ʊt
  • rhymes with -ʌt
  • Philippines: /ˈbis.kwɪt/
  • CMU ARPABET: B IH1 S K AH0 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A small, flat, baked good which is either hard and crisp or else soft but firm; a cookie.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New-Zealand, UK, countable, sometimes, uncommon, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, US, countable, rare, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A cracker.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Ireland, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, UK, countable, uncountable

Examples

  • cheese and biscuits
  • water biscuits
  • digestive biscuits

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Any of several hard bread or breadlike foodstuffs, especially those formerly supplied to naval ships and armies, made with very little water, kneaded into flat cakes, and slowly baked, and which often became infested with weevils.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, especially, uncountable

Topics: nautical, transport

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: tack, bread

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tack, bread

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A form of unglazed earthenware.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: biscuitware, biscuitry

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A light brown colour.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: arts, business, carpentry, construction, crafts, hobbies, lifestyle, manufacturing, woodworking

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dowel, finger joint, glue strip, spline

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

A plastic card bearing the codes for authorizing a nuclear attack.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, slang, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

A handgun, especially a revolver.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, slang, uncountable

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

A puck (hockey puck).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Qualifier: shuffleboard

Topics: hobbies, ice-hockey, lifestyle, skating, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

noun

Meaning 11

The head.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, slang, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

noun

Meaning 12

An inner tube used in the sport of tubing, or biscuiting.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: New-Zealand, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

noun

Meaning 13

A young woman.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, slang, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

14

verb

Meaning 14

To fire (pottery) in a kiln, without a ceramic glaze.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

15

verb

Meaning 15

To take part in the sport of tubing, riding down a river on an inner tube.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: New-Zealand, intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

16

noun

Meaning 16

any of various small flat sweet cakes (`biscuit' is the British term)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cookie, cooky

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cake

Narrower terms: teacake, tea biscuit, dog biscuit, butter cookie, spice cookie, almond cookie, almond crescent, brownie, gingersnap, ginger snap, snap, ginger nut, macaroon, kiss, ladyfinger, anise cookie, molasses cookie, oreo, oreo cookie, raisin-nut cookie, refrigerator cookie, raisin cookie, fruit bar, sugar cookie, oatmeal cookie, chocolate chip cookie, Toll House cookie, fortune cookie, gingerbread man, wafer, granola bar

17

noun

Meaning 17

small round bread leavened with baking-powder or soda

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: quick bread

Narrower terms: rolled biscuit, drop biscuit, baking-powder biscuit, buttermilk biscuit, soda biscuit, hardtack, pilot biscuit, pilot bread, sea biscuit, ship biscuit

History

Etymology

PIE word *dwóh1 Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1 Proto-Indo-European *dwís Proto-Italic *dwis Old Latin duis Latin bis Proto-Indo-European *pekw- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *pékweti Proto-Italic *kwekwō Latin *quoquō Latin coquō Latin coctus Early Medieval Latin biscoctus Old French bescuitbor. Middle English bisquyte English biscuit From earlier bisket, from Middle English bisquyte, from Old French bescuit (French biscuit); doublet of biscotto.

Across languages

Translations

180 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: koekie — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Albanian: biskotë — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Albanian: galetë — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Western Apache: báń łikane — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بَسْكَوِيت (baskawīt) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بِسْكْوِي (biskwī) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بَسْكُوت (baskūt) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بِسْكِت (biskit) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بسكويتة (baskawita) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بسكويت (baskawit) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بسكوت (baskut) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: كحك (kaḥk) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بسكوت (baskūt) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بسكوت (biskōt) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Iraqi Arabic: بسكت (biskit) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Arabic: بسكوي (biskwi) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Armenian: թխվածք (tʻxvackʻ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Armenian: պեչենի (pečʻeni) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Asturian: galleta — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Asturian: bizcuechu — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Azerbaijani: biskvit — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Azerbaijani: peçenye — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Basque: galleta — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Basque: bixkotx — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Belarusian: пе́чыва (pjéčyva) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Belarusian: пячэ́нне (pjačénnje) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Belarusian: пячэ́ньне (pjačénʹnje) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Belarusian: біскві́т (biskvít) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Bengali: বিস্কুট (biskuṭ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Breton: gwispidenn — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Bulgarian: суха́р (suhár) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Bulgarian: бискви́та (biskvíta) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Bulgarian: бискви́т (biskvít) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Burmese: ဘီစကွတ် (bhica.kwat) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Burmese: ဆိတ်နို့မုန့် (hcitnui.mun.) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Catalan: galeta — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Catalan: bescuit — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Chickasaw: paska — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Chinese Cantonese: 餅乾 /饼干 (beng2 gon1) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Chinese Mandarin: 餅乾 /饼干 (bǐnggān) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Cornish: tesen gales — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Czech: sušenka — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Danish: kiks — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Dutch: biscuit — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Dutch: koekje — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Esperanto: kringo — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Esperanto: biskvito — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Esperanto: kekso — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Estonian: biskviit — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Finnish: keksi — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • French: biscuit — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Galician: biscoito — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Georgian: ორცხობილით (orcxobilit) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • German: Keks — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Greek: μπισκότο (biskóto) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Ancient Greek: δίπυρος (dípuros) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Gujarati: બિસ્કિટ (biskiṭ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Hebrew: בִּיסְקְוִיט — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Hebrew: ביסקוויט (biskvít) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Hindi: बिस्कुट (biskuṭ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Hungarian: keksz — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Icelandic: kex — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Ido: bisquito — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Indonesian: biskuit — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Irish: briosca — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Italian: biscotto — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Italian: biscottino — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Japanese: ビスケット (bisuketto) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Japanese: クッキー (kukkī) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Kazakh: піспенан (pıspenan) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Kazakh: печенье (peçene) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Khmer: ប៊ិស្គីបត៍ (biskvii) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Korean: 비스킷 (biseukit) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Korean: 쿠키 (kuki) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Kyrgyz: печенье (pecenye) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Lao: ຂະຫນົມປັງ (kha nom pang) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Latin: copta — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Latin: tractum — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Latvian: biskvīts — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Ligurian: beschéutto — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Lithuanian: biskvitas — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Luxembourgish: Kichelchen — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Macedonian: кекс (keks) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Macedonian: бискви́т (biskvít) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Malay: biskut — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Maltese: gallettina — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Manx: biskee — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Manx: brishtag — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Māori: pihikete — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Marathi: बिस्किट (biskiṭ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Marshallese: būreej — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Marshallese: petkōj — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Mongolian: жигнэмэг (žignemeg) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Mongolian: печень (pečenʹ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Mongolian: ᠵᠢᠩᠨᠡᠮᠡᠭ (ǰingnemeg) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Mongolian: ᠫᠧᠴᠧᠨᠢ (pēčēni) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Khiamniungan Naga: thāmtsâi — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Nauruan: beitker — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Navajo: bááh nímazí — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kjeks — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Norwegian Bokmål: småkake — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Iranian Persian: بیسْکوئیت (bisku'it) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Polish: ciastko — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Polish: herbatnik — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Portuguese: biscoito — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Punjabi: ਬਿਸਕੁਟ (biskuṭ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Romanian: biscuit — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Russian: пече́нье (pečénʹje) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Russian: бискви́т (biskvít) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Scottish Gaelic: briosgaid — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Serbo-Croatian: бѝсквӣт — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Serbo-Croatian: ке̏кс — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Serbo-Croatian: bìskvīt — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Serbo-Croatian: kȅks — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Sicilian: viscottu — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Slovak: sušienka — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Slovene: piškot — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Spanish: galleta — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Spanish: bísquet — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Swahili: biskuti — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Swedish: kex — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Tagalog: biskwit — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Tajik: кулча (kulča) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Tajik: печен'е (pečen'ye) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Tamil: பிஸ்கட் (piskaṭ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Tamil: மாச்சில்லு (māccillu) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Tamil: ஈரட்டி (īraṭṭi) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Thai: บิสกิต (bís-gìt) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Thai: ขนมปังกรอบ (kà-nǒm-bpang-grɔ̀ɔp) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Turkish: bisküvi — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Turkmen: köke — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Ukrainian: пе́чиво (péčyvo) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Ukrainian: біскві́т (biskvít) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Urdu: بِسْکِٹ (biskiṭ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Urdu: بِسْکُٹ (biskuṭ) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Uyghur: پېچىنە (pëchine) — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Uzbek: pechenye — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Vietnamese: bánh quy — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Walloon: biscûte — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Welsh: bisgeden — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Welsh: bisgïen — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Zulu: bhisikidi — small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker
  • Afrikaans: skon — small bread similar to scone
  • Chickasaw: paska — small bread similar to scone
  • Esperanto: biskoto — small bread similar to scone
  • Esperanto: kekso — small bread similar to scone
  • Esperanto: biskvito — small bread similar to scone
  • Esperanto: skono — small bread similar to scone
  • Esperanto: paneto — small bread similar to scone
  • Finnish: teeleipä — small bread similar to scone
  • Latin: bucellātum — small bread similar to scone
  • Polish: chleb herbatnikowy — small bread similar to scone
  • Spanish: hallulla — small bread similar to scone
  • Swedish: tekaka — small bread similar to scone
  • Welsh: bara deugras — small bread similar to scone
  • Bulgarian: суха́р (suhár) — ship's "bread"
  • Catalan: bescuit — ship's "bread"
  • Danish: beskøjt — ship's "bread"
  • Esperanto: marbiskvito — ship's "bread"
  • Finnish: laivakorppu — ship's "bread"
  • French: biscuit — ship's "bread"
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kjeks — ship's "bread"
  • Norwegian Bokmål: beskøyter — ship's "bread"
  • Polish: suchar — ship's "bread"
  • Russian: гале́та (galéta) — ship's "bread"
  • Bulgarian: неглази́рана кера́мика (neglazírana kerámika) — form of earthenware
  • Finnish: bisque — form of earthenware
  • French: biscuit — form of earthenware
  • Malay: biskut — form of earthenware
  • Polish: biskwit — form of earthenware
  • Portuguese: biscuit — form of earthenware
  • Romanian: biscuit — form of earthenware
  • Spanish: biscocho — form of earthenware
  • Spanish: bizcocho — form of earthenware
  • Finnish: vaaleanruskea — light brown colour
  • Polish: kolor biszkoptowy — light brown colour
  • Afrikaans: lamelverbinding — woodworking: wafer to provide gluing surface
  • Finnish: liitospala — woodworking: wafer to provide gluing surface
  • Finnish: keksi — woodworking: wafer to provide gluing surface
  • Polish: biskwit — woodworking: wafer to provide gluing surface
Real reading context

biscuit in complete knowledge articles