biscuit

¹ American  

[bis-kit] / ˈbɪs kɪt /

noun

1. a kind of bread in small, soft cakes, raised with baking powder or soda, or sometimes with yeast; scone.

2. Chiefly British.

   1. a dry and crisp or hard bread in thin, flat cakes, made without yeast or other raising agent; a cracker.

   2. a cookie.

3. a pale-brown color.

4. Also called bisque.  Ceramics. unglazed earthenware or porcelain after firing.

5. Also called preform.  a piece of plastic or the like, prepared for pressing into a phonograph record.

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adjective

1. having the color biscuit.

biscuit ² American  

[bees-kwee] / bisˈkwi /

noun

French.

1. a cookie or cracker.

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biscuit British  

/ ˈbɪskɪt /

noun

1. US and Canadian word: cookie.  a small flat dry sweet or plain cake of many varieties, baked from a dough

2. a kind of small roll similar to a muffin

3. 1. a pale brown or yellowish-grey colour

   2. ( as adjective )

      biscuit gloves

4. Also called: bisque.  earthenware or porcelain that has been fired but not glazed

5. slang to be regarded (by the speaker) as the most surprising thing that could have occurred

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• biscuitlike
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of biscuit

1300–50; Middle English bysquyte < Middle French biscuit ( Medieval Latin biscoctus ), variant of bescuit seamen's bread, literally, twice cooked, equivalent to bes bis ¹ + cuit, past participle of cuire < Latin coquere to cook ¹

Explanation

A biscuit is a small, round type of bread. A biscuit is delicious with butter, or you might prefer your biscuits with gravy. Biscuits are a lot like rolls, and they often serve the same purpose by being side dishes or appetizers. Baking powder or soda is used to leaven biscuits, which are best served when warm and soft. A hard, stale biscuit isn’t very appealing. People often eat biscuits as a side dish with dinner, or smothered with gravy at breakfast.

Example Sentences

A woman who found out she was diabetic at seven years old has told how stepping on a dog biscuit led to her right leg being amputated.

From BBC • May 10, 2026

Breakfast options include the sausage McMuffin, sausage biscuit, sausage burrito, hash browns, and a medium coffee—all at under $3 each.

From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026

One group, known as content neurons, responded to specific images such as a biscuit, regardless of the task being performed.

From Science Daily • Mar. 24, 2026

Back together again, some shared warm “Murdaugh Muffins,” made of sausage, cheddar and biscuit mix, as they debated the odds of a retrial.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

After washing down a cold biscuit with some sweetmilk, I put on my driving cap and goggles and had just sneaked out the back door when Papa leaned out of his bedroom window upstairs.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

Related Words

• camel
• cream
• khaki
• off-white
• tan
• taupe