wafer

See also: Wafer

English

Some Nilla wafers.

A rolled wafer.

Communion wafers (on the right).

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman wafre, waufre (Old French gaufre), from a Germanic source. Compare Middle Low German wāfel, Middle Dutch wafel (“honeycomb”), West Flemish wafer. See also waffle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈweɪfə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪfə(ɹ)

Noun

wafer (plural wafers)

1. A light, thin, flat biscuit/cookie.
2. (religion) A thin disk of consecrated unleavened bread used in communion.
3. A soft disk originally made of flour, and later of gelatin or a similar substance, used to seal letters, attach papers etc.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 202:

     The house supplied him with a wafer for his present purpose, with which, having sealed his letter, he returned hastily towards the brook side, in order to search for the things which he had there lost.

4. (electronics) A thin disk of silicon or other semiconductor on which an electronic circuit is produced.

Synonyms

• (religion): host

Derived terms

• waferless
• waferlike
• wafery

Translations

biscuit

• Catalan: neula (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 威化餅／威化饼 (wai¹ faa³ beng²), 威化饼 (wai¹ faa³ beng²)

  Mandarin: 威化餅／威化饼 (wēihuàbǐng), 威化饼 (wēihuàbǐng)

• Czech: oplatka (cs) f
• Danish: vaffel c, (flat cake), vafferør n, (rolled cake)
• Dutch: wafel (nl) f
• Egyptian: (pꜣq)
• Finnish: vohveli (fi)
• French: gaufrette (fr) f
• German: Oblate (de) f, Waffel (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: ostya (hu), nápolyi (hu)
• Italian: wafer (it) m, (ice-cream) cialda f, ostia (it) f
• Japanese: ウエハース (uehāsu)
• Maori: keke angiangi
• Polish: wafel (pl) m, wafelek (pl) m
• Portuguese: wafer (pt) m
• Russian: ва́фля (ru) f (váflja)
• Spanish: oblea f
• Turkish: gofret (tr)

religious token

• Czech: hostie (cs) f
• Dalmatian: bluta
• Danish: oblat c
• Dutch: hostie (nl) f
• Finnish: ehtoollisleipä (fi), öylätti (fi)
• French: hostie (fr) f, oublie (fr) f
• German: Hostie (de) f
• Greek: όστια (el) f (óstia)
• Hungarian: ostya (hu)
• Indonesian: hosti (id)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: abhlann (ga) f

  Old Irish: obla(e) f

• Italian: ostia (it) f
• Polish: hostia (pl) f, opłatek (pl) m
• Portuguese: hóstia (pt) f
• Russian: обла́тка (ru) f (oblátka)
• Serbo-Croatian: hostija (sh) f
• Spanish: hostia (es) f

lump of sealing substance

• French: pain à cacheter (fr) m
• Portuguese: obreia f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: печа́ть (ru) f (pečátʹ)

electronics

• Finnish: piikiekko
• French: wafer (fr) m
• German: Wafer (de) m, Halbleiterscheibe f
• Greek: δισκίο πυριτίου n (diskío pyritíou)
• Hungarian: lapka
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: lamella f, dischetto m
• Polish: wafel (pl) m, podłoże (pl) n
• Portuguese: wafer (pt) m
• Russian: подло́жка (ru) f (podlóžka)
• Spanish: oblea f

Verb

wafer (third-person singular simple present wafers, present participle wafering, simple past and past participle wafered)

1. (transitive) To seal or close with a wafer.

   ...and the beginning of de Barral's end became manifest to the public in the shape of a half-sheet of note-paper wafered by the four corners on the closed door... Joseph Conrad, Chance: A Tale in Two Parts (New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1913), p. 81

---

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English wafer.

Noun

wafer m (plural wafers)

1. wafer (electronic component)

---

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English wafer.

Noun

wafer m (uncountable)

1. wafer (biscuit and electronic component)

---

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English wafer.

Noun

wafer m (plural s)

1. wafer (type of biscuit)
2. (electronics) wafer (disk on which an electronic circuit is produced)