croissant
/ˈkrwasɒ̃
/noun
A French crescent-shaped roll made of sweet flaky yeast dough, eaten for breakfast.For example, breakfast might consist of either Lebanese flatbread or French croissants with cheese and coffee or tea....
- Be they ‘au beurre’ or not, croissants are a French speciality to be found on breakfast trays around the world.
- This bakery produces a range of delicious continental breads such as croissants and pains au chocolat, as well as speciality loaves.
Origin
Late 19th century: French (see crescent). The term had occasionally been recorded earlier as a variant of crescent.
crescent from Late Middle English:
The Romans referred to the thin curve of the waxing moon early in its cycle as luna crescens, ‘growing moon’. Crescens comes from Latin crescere ‘to grow’, the source of many English words such as the late 19th century curved croissant (the French form of crescent), accrue (Late Middle English), decrease (Late Middle English), and increase (Late Middle English). From being applied to the moon the word came to be applied to anything of that same shape. See also crew