🌪️ A tornado 🍩 A fried cake

twister

9 8.6

A small sweet of twisted dough that people fry in oil, like a doughnut

noun
/ˈtwɪstər/

: buñuelo trenzado

At the bakery, they sell a special twister that is coated with powdered sugar.

Examples

I think I'll have... a twister.

Bubble (2006)
I think Twister should appear in the Toy Hall of Fame because Twister is a fun-filled, action-packed game that will make you spend time with family!

Blog text (30)
For dessert, we enjoyed a delicious twister, a small cake twisted from dough and deep fried.
She took a bite of the twister and was delighted by its sweet flavor and crispy texture.

Synonyms

cruller

vstwister

10 8.1

A small sweet fried pastry twisted into a strip, richer than a doughnut

is similar but less rich and closer to a plain doughnut

sinker

vstwister

Archaic

1 9.3

A small round fried cake with a hole in the middle, like a doughnut

is made from shaped strips fried into a cake rather than a ring

torsade

vstwister

9.4

A small twisted pastry often with sugar or a sweet filling

is the plain fried version made from richer dough without fillings

Compounds

tongue twister

Informal

3 6.0

A phrase that is hard to say quickly because of similar sounds

How Rich

twister

9 8.6

donut

134 1.0

fritter

17 3.0

774 1.0

biscuit

45 1.0

Surface Forms

twister singular

twisters plural

Morphology

twister = twist (transparent) = twist + er

A clear result/nominal formation from 'twist' meaning 'a thing formed by twisting (strips of dough)'; the meaning follows standard -er nominalization.

Etymology

The word twister comes from the verb twist, which means 'to turn', and the ending -er which means 'something that does'. It names the small fried cake because the dough is 'twisted' into a spiral before cooking.