crisp
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crisp¹
- /kɹɪsp/ Australia, Canada, US
- /kɾɪsp/ Scotland, Wales
- /kɹəsp/ New Zealand
Rhymes with -ɪsp
Where it comes from
The adjective is derived partly from the following:
* Etymology 1, adjective sense 1: Middle English crisp (“curly, wavy”), from Old English crisp (“curly”), from Latin crispus (“of hair: crimped, curly”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kris-, from *(s)ker- (“to bend; to turn”).
* Etymology 1, adjective sense 2: from the above, and probably also onomatopoeic, representing a crinkling or crunching sound.
Doublet of crape and crepe.
Adjective etymology 1, adjective sense 2.2.3 (“of air, weather, etc.: cool and dry”) is transferred from a description of frost or snow as “crisp”, that is, crunchy.
The noun is derived partly from the following:
* Middle English crisp (“light, crinkled fabric; kind of pastry; crinkliness or roughness of skin”), from crisp (adjective) (see above).
* Modern English crisp (adjective) (“having a consistency which is hard yet brittle”).
adjective crisper · crispest
- Of hair: curling, especially in tight, stiff curls or ringlets; also (obsolete), of a person: having hair curled in this manner. crisp hair
- Of a body of water, skin, etc.: having a surface which is rippled or wrinkled. [T]hree times did they drinke / Vpon agreement of ſvvift Seuerns floud, / VVho then affrighted vvith their bloudie lookes, / Ran fearefully among the trembling reedes, / And hid his criſpe-head in the hollovv banke, / Bloud-ſtained vvith theſe valiant combatants, […]
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Synonym of crispate (“of a leaf: having curled, notched, or wavy edges”); crisped.
Feathered VVater Moſs. Branched. Leaves criſp, feathered, undulated, pointing tvvo vvays.
Similar: crispate
- Clear; also, shining, or smooth. One whyle hée at my necke dooth ſnatch / Another whyle my cléere criſp legges be ſtriueth for too catch, / Or trippes at mée: and euerywhere the vauntage he dooth watch.
- Having a consistency which is hard yet brittle, and in a condition to break with a sharp fracture; crumbly, friable, short. The crisp snow crunched underfoot.
- Not limp; firm, stiff; not stale or wilted; fresh; also, effervescent, lively. And this piece of laurel is from Vaucluse! […] What an exquisite dry old, vital, young-looking, everlasting twig it is! It has been plucked nine months, and looks as hale and as crisp as if it would last ninety years.
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Of action, movement, a person's manner, etc.: precise and quick; brisk.
An expert, given a certain query, will often come up with a crisp answer: “yes” or “no”.
Opposite: flabby
- Of air, weather, etc.: cool and dry; also, of a period of time: characterized by such weather. All these boys were in great spirits, and shouted to each other, until the broad fields were so full of merry music, that the crisp air laughed to hear it!
- Of fabric, paper, etc.: clean and uncreased. He sat in a small room with benches where Santino had placed him, handed him the crisp, freshly withdrawn fifty-dollar bills, while Santino set about getting a bail bondsman.
- Of something heard or seen: clearly defined; clean, neat, sharp. This new television set has a very crisp image.
- Not using fuzzy logic; based on a binary distinction between true and false.
- Of wine: having a refreshing amount of acidity; having less acidity than green wine, but more than a flabby one.
noun crisps
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In full potato crisp: a thin slice of potato which has been deep-fried until it is brittle and crispy, and eaten when cool; they are typically packaged and sold as a snack.
Edward, give me another of those delicious olives. / What's that? Potato crisps? No, I can't endure them.
Similar: chip, potato chip
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Sometimes with a descriptive word: a crispy, savoury snack made of some other ingredient(s) (such as cornmeal or a vegetable) which is baked or deep-fried and eaten like a potato crisp.
kale crisps prawn crisp
Similar: chip, potato chip
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A type of baked dessert consisting of fruit topped with a crumbly mixture made with fat, flour, and sugar; a crumble.
Similar: crunch
- A banknote; also, a number of banknotes collectively.
- Chiefly in to a crisp: a food item that has been overcooked, or a thing which has been burned, to the point of becoming charred or dried out. He bears my name—Glendinning. I will disown it; were it like this dress, I would tear my name off from me, and burn it till it shriveled to a crisp!
- The crispy rind of roast pork; crackling. Alon[zo]. Anon they’l cut off ſlivers from us, as they did from the vvhole Ox, in St. James’s Fair. / Gonz[alo]. Oh, ’tis intollerable: methinks I hear a great ſhe Devil, call for [a] Groats vvorth of the Criſpe of my Countenance.—They are all for Griſtle.
- A curly lock of hair, especially one which is tightly curled. They are proud, and vveare their hayre pretty long, and about their criſpes vvreath a valuable Shaſh or Tulipant; […]
- A delicate fabric, possibly resembling crepe, especially used by women for veils or other head coverings in the past; also, a head covering made of this fabric. Vpon her head a ſiluer criſp ſhe pind, / Looſe vvauing on her ſhoulders vvith the vvind.
crisp²
- /kɹɪsp/ Australia, Canada, US
- /kɾɪsp/ Scotland, Wales
- /kɹəsp/ New Zealand
Rhymes with -ɪsp
Where it comes from
Partly from the following:
* Etymology 2 sense 1: crisp (adjective; see etymology 1).
* Etymology 2 sense 2: Late Middle English crispen (“to curl; of hair: to be curly”), from Old English cirpsian (“to curl, crisp”), from Latin crīspō (“to crimp; to curl”), from crispus (“of hair: crimped, curly”, adjective) (see etymology 1) + -ō (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).
verb crisps · crisping · crisped
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To make (something) firm yet brittle; specifically (cooking), to give (food) a crispy surface through frying, grilling, or roasting.
to crisp bacon by frying it
Similar: crispen
- To add small amounts of colour to (something); to tinge, to tint. It was the form of a man of middle age, the hair white, but the beard only crisped with grey,
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To become firm yet brittle; specifically (cooking), of food: to form a crispy surface through frying, grilling, or roasting.
to put celery into ice water to crisp
Similar: crispen
- To make a sharp crackling or crunching sound. […] everything had become so still that the crisping of the snow under foot might be heard nearly half a verst round.
- To curl (something, such as fabric) into tight, stiff folds or waves; to crimp, to crinkle; specifically, to form (hair) into tight curls or ringlets. […] those crisped snaky golden locks / Which make such wanton gambols with the wind,
- To cause (a body of water) to undulate irregularly; to ripple. […] the crisped Brooks, / Rowling on Orient Pearl and sands of Gold
- To twist or wrinkle (a body part). […] he consider’d what an infinity of Muscles these laughing Rascals threw into a convulsive motion at the same time; whether we regard the spasms of the Diaphragm and all the muscles of respiration, the horrible rictus of the mouth, the distortion of the lower jaw, the crisping of the nose, twinkli
- To fold (newly woven cloth).
- To become curled into tight, stiff folds or waves. The Sauoie Lettuce hath very large leaues ſpread vpon the grounde, at the firſt comming vp broade, cut, or gaſht about the edges, criſping or curling lightly this or that way, not vnlike to the leaues of garden Endiue, […]
- Of a body of water: to ripple, to undulate. 1630, Henry Hawkins (translator), Certaine selected epistles of S. Hierome, Saint-Omer: The English College Press, “The Epitaphe of S. Paula,” p. 96, Hitherto we haue sayled with a fore-wind, & our sliding ship hath plowed vp the crisping waues of the Sea at ease.
- Of a body part: to become twisted or wrinkled. […] she gave no sign of the wave of repugnance that swept over her except that her fingers suddenly crisped.
Crisp³
proper noun Chrisp
- A surname.
- An unincorporated community in Edgecombe County, North Carolina.
- An unincorporated community in Ellis County, Texas, named after Charles F. Crisp.
- An unincorporated community in Pleasants County, West Virginia, possibly a ghost town now.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: crispy, crease, wrinkle, ruckle, crinkle, crunchy, scrunch, nipping, nippy, chip, sharp, curly, frizzy, frizzly, snappy, kinky
Translations
Every language
adj of hair: curling, especially in tight, stiff curls or ringlets
| Français | frisé |
|---|---|
| Italiano | croccante |
| Русский | кудря́вый kudrjávyj, курчавый kurčavyj, вьющийся vʹjuščijsja |
adj of a body of water, skin, etc.: having a surface which is rippled or wrinkled — see also rippled, wrinkled
| Русский | покрытый рябью pokrytyj rjabʹju |
|---|
adj having a consistency which is hard yet brittle, and in a condition to break with a sharp fracture
| Deutsch | spröde |
|---|---|
| Русский | хру́пкий xrúpkij |
adj not stale or wilted — see also fresh
| Español | crujiente |
|---|---|
| Português | congelante |
| Français | croquant, croustillant |
| Deutsch | knackig, knusprig |
| Русский | све́жий svéžij |
adj of action, movement, a person’s manner, etc.: precise and quick — see also brisk, precise
| Português | alegre, animado, festivo |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | forsch |
| Русский | чёткий čótkij, я́сный jásnyj, лакони́чный lakoníčnyj |
adj of air, weather, etc.: cool and dry; of a period of time: characterized by such weather
| Português | fresco |
|---|
Talk about this word "crisp." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/crisp. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. crisp. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/crisp "crisp." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/crisp.Cite this
@misc{crisp_2026,
title = {crisp},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/crisp},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
