crunchy

English

Etymology

crunch +‎ -y

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɹʌnt͡ʃi/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌntʃi

Adjective

crunchy (comparative crunchier, superlative crunchiest)

1. Likely to crunch, especially with reference to food when it is eaten.

   I put some lettuce in the burger to make it more crunchy.

2. (slang) Having sensibilities of a counter-culture nature lover or hippie; derived from the concept of crunchy granola.

   San Francisco was a very crunchy town.

Synonyms

• crispy

Derived terms

• crunchy-gravel drama
• crunchy roll

 

Translations

likely to crunch

• Belarusian: хрусткі (xrustki)
• Bikol Central: maragsip
• Catalan: cruixent
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 脆 (zh) (cuì)

• Finnish: rapea (fi)
• French: croquant (fr)
• Galician: crocante, triscante
• German: knusprig (de)
• Greek: τραγανιστός (el) (traganistós)
• Italian: croccante (it) m
• Malay: rangup
• Maori: kakukaku
• Norwegian: knasende

  Nynorsk: krasete, knasande, sprø

• Polish: chrupki m, kruchy (pl) m
• Portuguese: crocante (pt)
• Romanian: crocant (ro) m or n
• Russian: хрустя́щий (ru) (xrustjáščij)
• Spanish: crujiente (es)
• Swedish: krispig (sv), knaprig (sv)
• Turkish: gevrek (tr), kıtır (tr), kıtır kıtır (tr), çıtır, çıtır çıtır (tr)
• Ukrainian: хрумкий (xrumkyj), хрусткий (xrustkyj)
• Welsh: creisionllyd

Noun

crunchy (plural crunchies)

1. (usually in the plural) A pellet of dry cat food.
   • 2008, Bev Cooke, Feral, →ISBN, page 147:

     Finally she paws a crunchy out of the bowl, bends her head, [and] eats it.

   • 2013, Sharon Lee, Steve Miller, Fledgling, Second Edition, →ISBN:

     He picked a single crunchy up in his mouth and munched it consideringly.

2. (military slang) an infantryman, as opposed to a tanker (combatant manning a tank)
   • 2009, James Wesley Rawles, Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse:

     "Inside, tankers carry full-length M16s for crew protection from crunchies."

   • 2009, Chris Bunch, Allan cole, A Reckoning For Kings: A Novel of Vietnam:

     Since tankers are no brighter than infantry types, those men assigned to the Twelfth Infantry Division's armored unit thought their tour was a bitter waste, rather than being grateful for not getting wiped out nearly as regularly as the crunchies did.

See also

• crunchie (“chocolate sweet; infantry soldier; white Afrikaner”)