biscuitlike

Biscuitlike is an English adjective used to describe something that resembles a biscuit in appearance, texture, or overall character. It is most often applied to foods that are dry, crumbly, and firm rather than soft, though it can also refer to a surface or material with a crisp, brittle, or twice-baked quality.

The word is formed by adding the suffix -like to the noun biscuit. The noun itself comes from Old French biscuit, from Latin biscoctus meaning twice cooked, a reference to the traditional method of baking a biscuit or cookie. As a descriptor, biscuitlike indicates resemblance rather than identity.

In culinary contexts, biscuitlike textures are typical of shortbread, some crackers, and many baked goods that are deliberately dry and crumbly. A crust described as biscuitlike would be hard and crumbly rather than soft. The term can also be used metaphorically to describe non-food items with a dry, brittle, or granular surface.

Regional usage varies with the sense of biscuit. In American English, biscuit refers to a soft bread roll, but biscuitlike can still convey a dry-like texture; in British English, biscuit is a cookie, making biscuitlike common in descriptions of cookies that are crisp or hard.

See also: Biscuit, Cookie, Shortbread, Cracker, Texture.