a usually hard, brittle biscuit made from a slender roll of dough heavily sprinkled with salt and typically baked in the form of a loose knot or as a stick
See pretzel in American Heritage Dictionary 4
(prĕtˈsəl)
noun
A glazed, brittle biscuit that is usually salted on the outside and baked in the form of a loose knot or a stick.
Word History: The German word Brezel or Pretzel, which was borrowed into English (being first recorded in American English in 1856) goes back to the assumed Medieval Latin word *brāchitellum. This would accord with the story that a monk living in France or northern Italy first created the knotted shape of a pretzel, even though this type of biscuit had been enjoyed by the Romans. The monk wanted to symbolize arms folded in prayer, hence the name derived from Latin bracchiātus, “having branches,” itself from bracchium, “branch, arm.”