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Hello, everybody,

I would like to understand what the difference is between crispy or crunchy.

Have we to say crispy beef or crunchy beef ? Or are there two sorts of beefs ?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

I would say crunchy refers mostly to a sound, but crispy refers to consistency of food (hard but easily breakable). So crispy food is crunchy. About the beef, I wouldn't use crispy or crunchy, i would say crusty (with a nice crispy crust - a layer on the top of the baked or BBQ meet). But of course you can say crunchy if you fry that piece of beef until it is hard. Hope it will help! (BTW i'm not a native speaker)

They are very similar.

Crunchy gives me the idea that something will break when pressure is applied, such as nuts or apples. It can only be used for food.

Crispy gives the idea that something is sharp, rigid and dry. For food it gives the idea that it is something cooked, like bacon or potatoes. Crispy can also be used in other ways, for example a crisp morning or a crisp reply.

It's been a long time since I've come here last time.

Thank you for your answers.

I notice the look of the forum changed.

shokin wrote:It's been a long time since I've come here last time.

Thank you for your answers.

I notice the look of the forum changed.

shokin,

native speaker's intuition informs a speaker as to which one is appropriate, though few would actually put much thought into the criteria determining which to use.

here's the skinny, as far as i can tell:

crispy: used to describe things which have a stiff texture/feel on their outer covering, or which have a stiff texture throughout but are thin, primarily oriented along the x and y axes (like a rectangle), with very little depth.
eg crispy chicken (here the meat itself is soft but the skin is fried to a stiff/rough texture)
crispy bacon (very long and rectangular in shape, exceptionally thin)
crisps (meaning potato chips, stiff and brittle but thin appearing often as a circle or saddle-shape)
crisp collar (the collar of a new or freshly-ironed shirt which presents a straight, stiff appearance. note the collar is thin.)
crisp bills (freshly minted cash, still preserving the sharp rectangular corners and resistance to folding of those stacks of 'clean money' you see at banks.)

crunchy: used to describe things which have a stiff or rough texture throughout, but which are large or, though maybe small, are closer to equal in three dimensions than what is normally called crispy, or to something approaching paste or spread in viscosity but through which bits of rough pervade.
eg crunchy cookies (most are small, as in hand-sized, but the proportion of the z-axis to the the x and y is much closer than compared to things normally called 'crisp(y)' such as chicken skin, potato chips or cash bills.)
crunching on an apple (the apple is roughly spherical in shape, and more solid, physically, than crispy foods)
crunchy peanut butter (the thick, dense paste is littered with hard bits of nut)

this has come up numerous times with my foreign-born students and with my native speaker friends, which is why i've put so much thought into it.

Crispy goes with dry ,and crunchy with wet foods.
Im not sure.

"Crunchy" is applied to something that makes a sharp noise when bitten or crushed.

Crispy might also make a sharp noise when bitten or crushed, but it doesn't actually mean that.