wafer

American  

[wey-fer] / ˈweɪ fər /

noun

1. a thin, crisp cake or biscuit, often sweetened and flavored.

2. a thin disk of unleavened bread, used in the Eucharist, as in the Roman Catholic Church.

3. a thin disk of dried paste, gelatin, adhesive paper, or the like, used for sealing letters, attaching papers, etc.

4. Medicine/Medical. a thin sheet of dry paste or the like, used to enclose a powder to be swallowed.

5. any small, thin disk, as a washer or piece of insulation.

6. Electronics. a thin slice of semiconductor used as a base material on which single transistors or integrated-circuit components are formed.

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verb (used with object)

1. to seal, close, or attach by means of a wafer or wafers.

   to wafer a letter.

wafer British  

/ ˈweɪfə /

noun

1. a thin crisp sweetened biscuit with different flavourings, served with ice cream, etc

2. Christianity a thin disc of unleavened bread used in the Eucharist as celebrated by the Western Church

3. pharmacol an envelope of rice paper enclosing a medicament

4. electronics a large single crystal of semiconductor material, such as silicon, on which numerous integrated circuits are manufactured and then separated

5. a small thin disc of adhesive material used to seal letters, documents, etc

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verb

1. (tr) to seal, fasten, or attach with a wafer

Other Word Forms

• wafer-like
  adjective
• waferlike
  adjective
• wafery
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of wafer

1350–1400; Middle English wafre < Middle Dutch wafer, variant of wafel waffle ¹

Explanation

A very thin, crispy cookie is called a wafer. Chocolate cream sandwiched with wafers is a delicious treat. In addition to a cookie, wafer can also refer to the thin bread used during the Christian ritual of Holy Communion. These wafers are small and round. The word is used for other thin, disc-shaped objects as well, like an electronic wafer, a circular sliver of material that helps form a circuit. But the most common meaning is still the original "thin cake of paste," from a root that wafer shares with waffle.

Example Sentences

Three years ago, Britain blocked the company from buying its main semiconductor manufacturer, Newport Wafer Fab, following a "detailed national security assessment".

From Barron's • Nov. 19, 2025

Graham crackers, Biscoff, Nilla Wafer — anything that can be blitzed into buttery crumbs will do.

From Salon • Oct. 23, 2025

Cash allegedly provided Berry information on a national-security probe into a Chinese-controlled company’s purchase of a British computer-chip factory Newport Wafer Fab before it was officially made public.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 2025

But, just as Axelle Berthoumieu came on to replace the dismissed Vernier, Ireland got over for their second maul try, and third off a line-out, with Wafer again credited with the score.

From BBC • Mar. 22, 2025

Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves through my awful work, I laid in Dracula’s tomb some of the Wafer, and so banished him from it, Un-Dead, for ever.

From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

Related Words

• biscuit
• cake
• candy
• cookie
• cracker