Basenjigirl
Senior Member
English, USA
Crunchy is the word we use to describe the sound of something heavy and thick being ground or chewed. (Imagine the sound you hear in your head when you eat nuts or French bread. Or the sound you hear when you drive a car over thick gravel and you can hear the rocks breaking. That's a "crunchy" sound.)
Crispy is the word we use to describe the sound of something light and thin when it is being ground or chewed. (For example, the sound you hear when you bite a cookie or biscuit. Or what happens to bread if you leave it in the toaster too long. It comes out "crispy.")
fenixpollo
Senior Member
American English
Hi, llh0118, and welcome to the forum!
Are you asking for a translation of these terms into Spanish, or an explanation in English? We can move this into the English Only forum if you don't need the Spanish translation.
In what context are you asking about these words? Are you describing cereal or people or toast? (the terms can apply to all three). The guidelines for posting will give you an idea of what you should include when you ask a question in the forum, including a complete sentence and background information, and putting the phrase you want translated in the title of your thread.
Thanks.
Julie_UM
Senior Member
Argentina, Spanish
fenixpollo
Senior Member
American English
Basenjigirl's explanation of crunchy and crispy is a good one. "Crusty" isn't associated with a sound, as "crunchy" and "crispy" are, but with the feel of a hard, rough and often brittle surface.
Hope it helps.
Saludos.
susantash
Senior Member
Español de Uruguay
Crunchy is the word we use to describe the sound of something heavy and thick being ground or chewed. (Imagine the sound you hear in your head when you eat nuts or French bread. Or the sound you hear when you drive a car over thick gravel and you can hear the rocks breaking. That's a "crunchy" sound.)
Crispy is the word we use to describe the sound of something light and thin when it is being ground or chewed. (For example, the sound you hear when you bite a cookie or biscuit. Or what happens to bread if you leave it in the toaster too long. It comes out "crispy.")
Hi Basenjigirl!
Can you use the word "crunchy" to talk about food? Because from what you say it seems that the word you use for food is "crispy".
And what would be the difference between those two, in case you can use both to refer to food?
I'm afraid I don't have much context because they appear on a list of words to describe food texture in a coursebook.
Hola:
We use crunchy to describe peanut butter with chunks of peanuts in it, or any smooth paste with solid chunks or pieces of food in it. As basenjigirl said, we use it also for any food that makes that 'crunchy' sound, particularly nuts and cereals.
Crispy is a little more delicate. Cookies, potato chips, crackers, wafers, are all 'crispy'. It is associated more with food that is presented in thin layers, or has a thin layer, such as a crispy crust on bread.
They are very close in meaning, and both translate as 'crujiente'. Many foods can be described with either word, and some foods are described as 'crispy and crunchy'. We have a candy bar called 'crispy crunch'.
Mora
