chewy

American  

[choo-ee] / ˈtʃu i /

adjective

• chewier,
  comparative
• chewiest
  superlative

1. (of food) not easily chewed, as because of toughness or stickiness; requiring much chewing.

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chewy British  

/ ˈtʃuːɪ /

adjective

1. of a consistency requiring chewing; somewhat firm and sticky

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• chewiness
  noun

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• chewier
  comparative
• chewiest
  superlative

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Etymology

Origin of chewy

First recorded in 1920–25; chew + -y ¹

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Explanation

Chewy things have a springy quality when you grind them between your teeth. When you get braces, you have to avoid chewy foods like hard bagels and sticky toffee. Chewy things really give your jaws a workout when you eat them. Foods as varied as pizza crusts, overcooked meat, and dried apricots all have one thing in common: You have to chew them well before swallowing, and there's a firmness or stickiness between your teeth as you eat. Chewy comes from chew and its Old English root, ceowan.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chewy chewier chewiest

Small enough to be a single-sized dessert, these bakery-style squares have a brown-sugar base, chewy edges and a buttery center.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

In a video watched 2.8 million times, a foreign reviewer described it as "kind of like chewy tofu" and "very oily".

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

They are sticky and chewy, each bite of fruit managing to get stuck in between the tightest crevices of your teeth.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

“The texture is an abomination: gluey, with rubbery, chewy pockets.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

What should be sweet and chewy is hard and tastes vaguely like gravel.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

The thicker, chewier cousin of Spain’s more famous snack is the real draw at San Ginés.

From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026

Their dollars are flowing to niche names with more cultural cachet, from fancy new protein bars to chewier candy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2025

While I appreciate the classic appeal of ginger snaps, my heart belongs to a chewier counterpart — the ginger molasses cookie.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 19, 2023

Mrs Cole said it took her 40 minutes to cook and was therefore tougher and chewier.

From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2023

Sweet Potato Biscuits are sweeter and chewier than the baking powder variety eaten elsewhere.

From The Perdue Chicken Cookbook by Mitzi Perdue

The lobster is pleasantly oceanic-tasting and then, sadly, the chewiest I’ve ever encountered, chewing and chewing like a wad of seafood-flavored bubble gum.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022

"Oh, I think this one is the chewiest," said my dad, waving around a chocolate chip.

From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2021

The chewiest, knottiest song here is the title track, which concludes the album, a six-minute meditation that feels designed, after a half-hour of reckoning, to be inconclusive.

From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2020

Mr. Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” is as much of a slog as any great album in recent memory and probably the chewiest major-label hip-hop album in more than a decade.

From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2012

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