thin wafer

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A very thin, crisp, light biscuit or disk, often eaten with ice cream or sold as a snack.

   Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a thin wafer' or 'thin wafers'.

   Patterns

   • a thin wafer
   • thin wafers
   • a packet of thin wafers

   She served the ice cream with a thin wafer on the side.

   The chocolate was layered between two thin wafers.

   He bought a packet of thin wafers for the children.

2. 2nouncountabletechnical

   A very thin, flat slice or disk of a material, especially one used in electronics or manufacturing.

   Grammar: Countable and often used in technical descriptions: 'a thin wafer of silicon'.

   Patterns

   • a thin wafer of something
   • silicon wafer
   • a thin wafer of material

   The engineer held a thin wafer of silicon up to the light.

   The coating is applied to a thin wafer of metal.

   These thin wafers are stacked to make the battery.

Word forms

Common combinations

a thin wafer of something

The dessert was topped with a thin wafer of chocolate.

silicon wafer

The factory produces silicon wafers for computer chips.

wafer-thin

The ham was cut wafer-thin.

a wafer biscuit

She ate a wafer biscuit with her tea.

Synonyms and how they differ

cracker

A cracker is usually savory and often eaten with cheese or soup, while a wafer is lighter, crisper, and often sweet.

biscuit

In British English, 'biscuit' is the general word for a small baked snack; 'wafer' is a specific very thin type.

disk

A disk is a flat round object; a wafer is specifically very thin and often made of a special material.

Word family

wafer-thin adjective

Extremely thin, like a wafer.

Commonly confused: thin wafer or wafer?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “thin wafer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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