Etymograph

English

biscuit

Biscuit comes from Old French bescuit, from Medieval Latin biscoctus ‘twice-baked’, and ultimately from Latin coquō ‘to cook’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcoquō1
  2. Early Medieval Latinmodernbiscoctus2‘twice-baked’literally ‘twice baked’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bescuit1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bisquyte1
  5. English1500–presentbisket1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1791biscuit1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English biscuit
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old French bescuit
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation: “Charm'd by your touch, the kneaded clay refines, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcoquōWiktionary, English biscuit
  2. Early Medieval LatinmodernbiscoctusWiktionary, Old French bescuit‘twice-baked’literally ‘twice baked’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bescuitWiktionary, English biscuit
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bisquyteWiktionary, English biscuit
  5. English1500–presentbisketWiktionary, English biscuit
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1791biscuitWiktionary, English biscuit. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation: “Charm'd by your touch, the kneaded clay refines, /…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with biscuit, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Early Medieval Latin biscoctus

2 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A small, flat, baked good which is either hard and crisp or else soft but firm; a cookie.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “biscuit”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old French bescuit. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin coquō / biscuit