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Topic: Crisp & crispy

We were asked why English contains both the adjective crisp and the adjective crispy. After all, crispy means "crisp," so why have two terms?

Because while crispy can mean "crisp," crisp also has plenty of other senses, too. Crisp is the older term; versions of it appeared in Middle and Old English. Crispy—which first appeared in the 14th century and was formed simply by adding y to crisp—is synonymous only with the original sense of crisp: "curly"; "wavy"; "having close stiff or wiry curls or waves. "

Once you give it some thought, it's easy to think of other meanings of crisp. Crisp can mean "cold or frosty" (crisp winter morning) and it can be used to describe a short, or flaky, pastry. Crisp can be used in senses that suggest incisiveness (crisp epigrams) or that connote something or someone noticeably neat and spruce (a crisp uniform): when applied these ways, crisp conveys "keenness, freshness, clarity, animation, terseness, vigor, sureness," or "effectiveness"—or some combination of these characteristics.

Crisp also holds a place on the fragile, frangible, and brittle continuum: used this way, crisp describes something with the "firmness and brittleness desirable especially in some foods" (think crisp lettuce). Finally, crisp has a sense familiar to gun-users: a crisp trigger releases its fire mechanism smoothly and easily, while the trigger that creeps has play or slack in it before it releases the hammer or firing pin.

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.