chewy

English

Etymology

From chew +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃuː.i/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːi
• Homophone: chewie

Adjective

chewy (comparative chewier, superlative chewiest)

1. Having a pliable or springy texture when chewed.

   I must have spent an hour gnawing on the chewy taffy.

2. Prone to chewing.
   • 1945, Enid Blyton, Hollow Tree House, Delphi Classics, →ISBN:

     'And you chewed the chimneys off my dolls' house,' said Angela. 'You are a very chewy dog.'

   • 2024 September 12, Louise Glazebrook, Everything Your Puppy Wants You to Know: The new compassionate guide to raising a happy puppy from the bestselling author, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     You can expect to be working late into the night to make up for the work you missed that day, constantly distracted by a teething, tired, energised, rampant, playful, chewy puppy who needs attention, contact and training.

3. (wine) Full-bodied and tannic.

   a chewy wine

4. (crosswording) Satisfying to solve; novel and free of crosswordese.
   • 2023 January 14, Nancy, “Comment on 'Women's surfwear brand / SAT 1-14-23 / Internet company whose logo is a cat wearing earphones / Fabled tooth-takers / Dated TV star?'”, in Rex Parker Does The NY Times Crossword Puzzle‎^[1] (blog):

     I think it's possible to construct a puzzle with chewy fill and nice clues -- and still have it play very, very easy.

   • 2023 December 7, dontfisheatotherfish, “Comment on 'NYT Friday 12/08/2023 Discussion'”, in r/crossword‎^[2], Reddit:

     JUST STOP AND ADMIRE THAT GRID FOR A SECOND! Nice chewy clueing too. Bravo.

Derived terms

• chewiness
• crunchewy

Translations

having a pliable or springy texture when chewed

• Catalan: corretjós
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 需要多嚼的 (xūyào duō jiáo de)

• Danish: sejg
• Dutch: taai (nl), rubberig
• Finnish: sitkeä (fi)
• French: caoutchouteux (fr) m or m pl, caoutchouteuse (fr) f
• Galician: correúdo
• German: zäh (de)
• Hungarian: rágós (hu)
• Icelandic: seigur
• Japanese: よくかめない (yoku kamenai)
• Norwegian: seig (no)
• Russian: тре́бующий продолжи́тельного жева́ния (trébujuščij prodolžítelʹnovo ževánija), тре́бующий уси́ленного жева́ния (trébujuščij usílennovo ževánija), жёсткий (ru) (žóstkij)
• Slovene: žilav
• Spanish: cauchudo, gomoso (es), recio (es), correoso (es)
• Swedish: seg (sv)
• Turkish: sert (tr)

Noun

chewy (countable and uncountable, plural chewies)

1. (Australia, informal) Alternative form of chewie (“chewing gum”).
   • 2019, Jane Godwin, As Happy as Here:

     Like when Amber gave everyone but me a piece of chewy, and I said that wasn't very nice, […]

2. (US, informal) A type of soft and sticky cookie.
   • 2006, Diana Abu-Jaber, The Language of Baklava‎^[3], page 255:

     […] Roni clears away the dishes and returns with a plate of jaw-breaking, fillings-yanking, elderly butterscotch chewies.

   • 2011, Lisa Fain, The Homesick Texan Cookbook‎^[4], page unnumbered page:

     Chocolate chewies are light, crisp, and, yes, chewy chocolate cookies that are studded with chocolate chips and pecans.

   • 2017, The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies & Bars‎^[5], page 63:

     While many versions of the chocolate chewy exist and can be found in bakeries across the country, we wanted are fined recipe for a simple-to-make cookie so we could get our chocolate fix any time.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:chewy.

Anagrams

• Wyche