Mignon Fogarty

Dear British friends,

Someone left a message on the listener voicemail line recently with an aside that said a biscuit in British English is both a cookie and a cracker.

I've always thought a British biscuit is the same as an American cookie (and nothing more).

I've checked some dictionaries, but I still don't feel sure.

Please help: What is the meaning of "biscuit" in British English?

only a sweet cookie
40.8%
a cookie or a cracker
44.8%
other
14.4%
Poll ended at .
Mar 29, 2023 at 2:56amWeb
Show threadexcited for the mastodon riseMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl biscuits are often semi-sweet bread things in a cracker form factor. Kinda their own thing
Show threadexcited for the mastodon riseMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl Graham crackers are probably a good comparison, even though the consistency is different
Show threadEllenInEdmonton Mar 29, 2023
@grammargirl
This frustrated me greatly when trying to shop for either cookies OR crackers when I lived in Vietnam. They were both smushed together in the biscuit aisle. And you can get scones in the UK when you want an American biscuit. Not quite the same but it will have to do.
Show threadMadhouse Muse 😷🦋Mar 29, 2023
@grammargirl The crackers are usually called "water biscuits" or "savoury biscuits". Biscuits are cookies.
Show threadErika EnsignMar 29, 2023

@grammargirl
LOL

I'm not even voting because this question is way more complicated than it seems and spawned an entire podcast about the differences between UK & US English. (Later eps include Canadians & Kiwis.)
https://www.theincomparable.com/pants/1/

Biscuits v Cookies (Pants in the Boot 1)

Panelists bicker over biccies in our inaugural episode. Both America and the UK have biscuits and cookies, but they aren’t the same thing. Except sometimes they are. Sometimes it’s even settled legally and taxed accordingly! Thanks to the literally incomparable Chris Breen for the show’s theme music.

The Incomparable
Show threadErika EnsignMar 29, 2023

@grammargirl
And by episode 25 we had to circle back to biscuits to differentiate between US biscuits and scones. English, man.

https://www.theincomparable.com/pants/25/

That Takes the Biscuit (Pants in the Boot 25)

A buttermilk biscuit is one of humanity’s greatest inventions. But it is somehow different from an English or Scottish (or New Zealand) scone, whether you pronounce it skown or skon. In this episode, we tear biscuits apart, peer inside sausages, and swim in gravy.

The Incomparable
Show threadGlenn FleishmanMar 29, 2023
@HollyGoDarkly @grammargirl Brits on the podcast seem to say "cookie" when they mean an American-style "soft" cookie, though it's technically a biscuit, I think, and they admit it. We'll probably have to do *another* episode on baked sweet round things.
Show threadBrett ElliffMar 29, 2023

@glennf
Please do so!

@HollyGoDarkly @grammargirl

Show threadChristopher PhinMar 29, 2023

@glennf @HollyGoDarkly @grammargirl The grand irony is that neither a British biscuit* nor an American biscuit† is twice-cooked…

* I wouldn’t think soft cookie when I think of American cookies, incidentally. I think I’d usually think of chocolate chips, even though there’s no good reason for that, but it can be hard. Like, a ginger biscuit wouldn’t be a cookie in my head. Has to be round, flat, probably with [chocolate 😄] chips

† Which is, we established, a scone…

Show threadIanhopkinsonMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl there may be regional variation in this. I would always call a cracker a cracker but I'm aware of the term "water biscuit" to describe them
Show threadJoris MeijerMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl
For more confusion and fun, to my cultural Dutch mismatch of my ESL English crackers are a sub-set of bread, while biscuits are a sub-set of cookies. Which fails to adhere to any of the dominant forms.
Show threadDTrasler WritingMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl
For me, I guess the American "cookie" definition is weird, because cookies are a type of biscuit, but "biscuit" covers everything from Digestives to Bourbon Creams and Custard creams, and those pink wafer ones. But crackers aren't biscuits. They're crackers.
Show threadOuteastMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl Crackers aren't generally called biscuits to my knowledge - except insofar as they form part of a selection of biscuits for cheese (if you order or serve cheese and biscuits, the "biscuits" will be mostly crackers). There are savoury biscuits though, such as ones made with cheese (rather than for eating with cheese). I have a pic but the app is glitching & I can't upload any.
Show threadLynMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl Off topic since I'm Australian, but here we call cookies "sweet biscuits" and crackers are "dry biscuits". At least in Victoria we do, these things can vary.
Show thread➡️[email protected]Mar 29, 2023

@grammargirl not that etymology determines modern meaning, but biscuit (from French bis-cuit, “twice-cooked”) afaik originally referred to dry-baked dough which would last¹ on long trips, hence “ship’s biscuit.”

šaside from being infested with weevils

Show threadTim PantonMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl I had to think about this, but the existence of (savoury) “biscuits for cheese” as a category decided me. https://www.ocado.com/browse/food-cupboard-20424/crackers-crispbreads-151395/biscuits-for-cheese-160146
Biscuits for Cheese | Ocado

Browse and shop Biscuits for Cheese from Ocado. Find your favourite groceries, household essentials, and value delivered at Ocado.

Show threadM GrisbiMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl I think normally we'd differentiate between biscuits and crackers, except in the context of "cheese and biscuits" in which crackers are expected: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_and_crackers
Cheese and crackers - Wikipedia

Show threadbignoseMar 29, 2023

@grammargirl Wiktionary has a good coverage of the different usages.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biscuit

biscuit - Wiktionary

Show threadMark SteadmanMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl You can buy a box of “biscuits for cheese” in any UK supermarket. Most of the contents are crackers, but there are always invariably some of those slightly sweet Nice biscuits in there too that don’t go with any cheese.
Show threadJudi SutherlandMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl There are sweet biscuits you would have with tea or coffee. Some are like cookies, others less rich and crumbly. There is also a wide range of savoury biscuits which you would eat with cheese.
Show threadJohn HowesMar 29, 2023

@grammargirl As a Brit, I've never heard biscuit used to describe a cracker. A biscuit is a small, hard shortbread enjoyed with tea (coffee is an abomination to be avoided at all cost).

A British "cookie" is a gigantic doughy confection with ten thousand calories sold in shopping malls.

Classic biscuits include the digestive, rich tea, ginger nut, and Garibaldi. Then we have posh biscuits like the bourbon, custard cream and jammy dodger.
Let's not talk about hobnobs😀.

Show threadGeoff WinklessMar 29, 2023

@grammargirl you can say "cheese and biscuits" and mean cheese and crackers.

Oddly though you would never describe a single cracker as a biscuit.

Show threadGeoff WinklessMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl eg
Show threadDeadly HeadshotMar 29, 2023

@grammargirl
Proper cookies are closer to cakes than biscuits. I guess the differences in culture means you don't tend to eat what we call biscuits much?

I mean, Oreos are biscuits but true American chocolate chip cookies (which are often slightly gooey inside or at the very least aren't hard all the way through unless they're stale) aren't really. One definition of a biscuit that I think customs use is what happens when it gets stale: if it absorbs moisture, it's a biscuit.

Show threadThe Canadian ContentMar 29, 2023
@grammargirl I voted "other" to see the results out of curiosity. In Canada, we use the same cookie/biscuit conventions as in the US.
Show threadpenwing (they/them)Mar 29, 2023

@grammargirl would you consider an Oreo a cookie? As a Brit, I wouldn't. But it is a biscuit. A "cookie" is a specific style of biscuit (softer, maybe chewyish - American Cookies) biscuit is a wider umbrella term which includes digestives, Oreos, hobnobs, custard creams, garabaldi, shortbread, gingerbread (err... The biscuit type, not the cake type) etc. (But not whatever it is Americans call "biscuits")

Crackers/water biscuits are more savoury for eating with cheese...

Show threadLoukas (They/Them) 🏳️‍⚧️Mar 30, 2023

@grammargirl I think part of the confusion is because a British standard biscuit is already far less sweet than an American cookie, which is practically a cake.

And then you have the phenomenon of generalisation, where things that are a bit like a biscuit get called a biscuit, while the central meaning of 'biscuit' is still not 'cracker'.

Show threadxannaApr 2, 2023
@grammargirl it's always a cookie, except in phrases that implicate cheese. "Cheese and biscuits" means crackers. A selection pack of crackers might be called "biscuits for cheese". But it does not mean crackers otherwise.