crunchy

UK/ˈkɹʌnt͡ʃi/US/ˈkɹʌnt͡ʃi/

adjectiveA2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,504 of 15,258leans spoken

Crunchy means making a loud crackling sound between your teeth. Crunchy crisps, a crunchy apple, keep it crunchy.

The sound is part of the pleasure, and experiments show food is judged less crunchy when the noise is quietened — the ears are doing some of the tasting. Crunchy differs from crispy in being harder and lasting longer under the tooth.

Definitions of crunchy

1adjectivecrunchyMaking a loud crackling sound between the teeth.A2+
“The salad had a crunchy topping of toasted seeds.”
- Said"I like my toast crunchy, almost burnt. You can have the pale one."
- WrittenThe topping baked to a crunchy gold that shattered under the spoon.
- UsedAdd the nuts at the end to keep them crunchy.
- ContrastCrunchy, not soft. Soft gives way without a sound; crunchy answers back with a noise. soft →
- Not thisA crisp apple is crisp, not crunchy. Crunchy needs a louder crack: cereal, gravel, biscuits.
- Exchange"Still crunchy?""Barely. Eat them now or they're done for."
Patterncrunchy + noun (peanut butter, topping, texture) · nice and crunchy · go / stay crunchy · a crunch

crunchy is a quality of texture.

Remember it

CRUNCHy → the CRUNCH between your teeth

It is crunch + y: bite a fresh apple and listen to the crunch between your teeth.

hooks ontocrunch

Where it comes from

Crunch plus -y. Crunch is imitative, made from the sound of the bite.

From crunch + -y. From crunch + -y. The slang sense is derived from the concept of crunchy granola.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of crunchy

1adjectivecrunchyMaking a loud crackling sound between the teeth.A2+

“The salad had a crunchy topping of toasted seeds.”

Said"I like my toast crunchy, almost burnt. You can have the pale one."
WrittenThe topping baked to a crunchy gold that shattered under the spoon.
UsedAdd the nuts at the end to keep them crunchy.
ContrastCrunchy, not soft. Soft gives way without a sound; crunchy answers back with a noise. soft →
Not thisA crisp apple is crisp, not crunchy. Crunchy needs a louder crack: cereal, gravel, biscuits.
Exchange"Still crunchy?""Barely. Eat them now or they're done for."

Patterncrunchy + noun (peanut butter, topping, texture) · nice and crunchy · go / stay crunchy · a crunch

crunchy is a quality of texture.