In French, "croque" means to bite, crunch, or munch, so croque monsieur quite literally means "mister crunch" while croque madame means "missus crunch." These curious monikers belong to two popular French griddled sandwiches that are indeed crunchy and crispy, but there is one big difference between the monsieur and madame.

In their basic form, croque monsieurs contain French ham and Gruyère cheese pressed between thin slices of buttered bread that toasted using a griddle or broiler. There are variations, such as dipping the sandwich in an egg mixture before cooking for a French toast-like spin, but the basics are simply bread, cheese, and ham.

Meanwhile, a croque madame is simply a croque monsieur with a fried egg on top. The name may come from the fact that the egg resembles a woman's hat, but whether this theory is true or not, the croque madame has become so popular that it's considered a separate sandwich with its own spot on countless French bistro menus.