Cookie

Cookie is American for biscuit from the early 18th century and derives from the Dutch Koekje, which means little cake. It is also US informal for a person as in ‘a smart cookie’, which dates from the 1920s. On the world wide web, a cookie is a collection of data usually comprising a user name, location, date, and time, which is used to track and monitor web traffic. The term was coined by an American web browser programmer named Lou Montulli in 1994. See also cookie crumbles.