crisp

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Firm and fresh, in a pleasant way.

   My salad was full of crisp green lettuce.

2. 2
   adj

   Pleasantly cold and fresh.

   I love going for a walk on a crisp autumn morning.

3. 3
   noun

   A thin, crunchy slice of fried potato eaten as a snack (British English).

   He bought a bag of crisps to eat on the train.

4. 4
   adj

   Clear and sharp, of a sound or image.

   The new television produces a wonderfully crisp picture.

Simplified etymology

Crisp comes from Latin crispus, “curled,” and in Old English described curly or frizzy hair. It developed the sense “brittle” in the early 16th century, perhaps partly through its sound, although the shift is uncertain.

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”, th…

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External links

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