croissant
Americannoun
plural
croissantsnoun
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.
I use it two days later to buy a loaf of rye bread, plus pastries for Salmon and me: ham-and-cheese croissant, cinnamon bun.
From Slate • May 10, 2026
Bar hopefuls fill four or five diner-style tables, drinking beer and snacking on menu fare ranging from made-to-order pizza to chicken tinga tacos and farm fresh eggs on a croissant.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
"A monkey broke in the hotel restaurant, climbed down a pole and stole my croissant and omelette," he said.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026
We were having a cup of coffee and a few pastries, and one of them took a second almond croissant.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2025
Or the fact that Rishi was drawing it with a perfect ballerina’s bun, except the bun happened to be a croissant.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
Definitions 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.
