On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the cookie crumble title. In many English-speaking countries outside North America, including the United Kingdom, the most common word for a crisp cookie is “biscuit”.

The term “cookie” is normally used to describe chewier ones. In Scotland the term “cookie” is sometimes used to describe a plain bun. The word cookie dates from at least 1701 in Scottish usage where the word meant “plain bun”, rather than thin baked good, and so it is not certain whether it is the same word. From 1808, the word “cookie” is attested “in the sense of “small, flat, sweet cake” in American English.

Despite its descent from cakes and other sweetened breads, the cookie in almost all its forms has abandoned water as a medium for cohesion. Water in cakes serves to make the batter as thin as possible, the better to allow bubbles—responsible for a cake’s fluffiness—to form. In the cookie the agent of cohesion has become some form of oil. These oils saturate the cavities created during baking by bubbles of escaping gases. These gases are primarily composed of steam vaporized from the egg whites and the carbon dioxide released by heating the baking powder.

The Dutch word “koekje” was Anglicized to “cookie” or cooky. The most common modern cookie, given its style by the creaming of butter and sugar, was not common until the 18th century. Bakarkhani cookie is part of Mughlai cuisine of the Indian subcontinent. During baking, the mounds of dough spread and flatten. Spritzgebäck is an example of a pressed cookie. Fillings include marshmallow, jam, and icing.