Crackers

How to spell crackers

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce crackers

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does crackers mean?

1. nounThin, dry, crisp biscuits, usually unsweetened and eaten with cheese or other toppings.
2. adjectiveInformal British term meaning mad, insane, or wildly irrational.

Crackers in a sentence

• noun

  She spread soft cheese over a plate of crackers for the guests.

• adjective

  Paying that much for a parking space is absolutely crackers.

• noun

  The pantry shelf held a box of plain crackers and a jar of peanut butter.

• adjective

  The neighbours thought he was completely crackers for painting the house bright purple.

Where does crackers come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word builds on the verb 'crack', which descends from the Old English 'cracian', meaning 'to make a sharp, ringing sound' or 'to resound'. That native Germanic root referred first to noise rather than breakage, and the sense of splitting or snapping apart developed later from the sound something makes when it fractures. The agent suffix '-er' was added to form 'cracker', a name applied to several things that crack: a thin, dry biscuit that snaps crisply, a festive paper tube that pops, and a small firework. The plural '-s' simply marks more than one. In British usage 'crackers' also became an informal adjective for 'crazy', a development from the older slang sense of someone whose mind has 'cracked' or broken, and that figurative leap from a literal fracture is centuries old.

How the word is built

• crack (to snap or break sharply)
• -er (thing that does or is associated with the action)
• -s (plural/inflection)