croissant
Americannoun
-
croissants
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of croissant
1895–1900; < French: literally, crescent
Explanation
A croissant is a buttery, crescent-shaped French pastry. Good croissants are light, flaky, and delicately sweet. Enjoy one with a cup of coffee — preferably while sitting in a charming Parisian cafe. The croissant gets its name from its shape: in French, the word means "crescent" or "crescent of the moon." The Austrian pastry known as a Kipferl is the croissant's ancestor—in the 1830s, an Austrian opened a Viennese bakery in Paris, which became extremely popular and inspired French versions of the Kipferi, eventually named the croissant.
Vocabulary lists containing croissant
Stairway To Leaven: Baking Vocabulary
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World Cuisine - Introductory
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World Cuisine - Middle School and High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
One person, who was not given medical care, was using a plastic croissant wrapper as a dressing.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
His manifestos mix smart political satire with comedic promises to cap croissant prices, improve WiFi on UK trains and conscript people using speakerphones on public transport.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
The price of “The Golden Glizzy,” a decadent hot dog served on a fresh-baked croissant bun and topped with 30 grams of Ossetia caviar and 24-karat edible gold flakes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Winocour’s filmmaking itself is as steely as a Parisian’s gaze after you order the last croissant à la pâtisserie.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
“Feh! So drab! Nothing clashes, but nothing matches, either. TantpisT This was a French expression Penelope understood to mean “too bad, tough luck, that’s the way the croissant crumbles,” or something along those lines.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
And no matter what you order, don’t skip the croissants — they’re delectable, as they should be.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Besides wine, the course is marked with tables of cheese, croissants, oysters, steak and ice cream.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
For non-smokers, this came primarily from consuming contaminated food including breakfast cereals, bread, croissants and other pastries, biscuits, rice and potatoes, it said.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
It’s a chill coffee shop where croissants are made to order.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
Castleman’s Bakery, home of the legendary cheese croissants, was right across from the entrance to City College.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
