fry

fry · verb, noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰerǵ-der.?
2. Latinfrīgō
3. Old Frenchfrire
4. Middle Englishfryen
5. English todayfry

Inherited from Middle English fryen, borrowed from Old French frire, from Latin frīgō. Cognate with Ancient Greek φρύγω (phrúgō, “to roast, bake”), Sanskrit भृज्जति (bhṛjjati, “to roast, grill, fry”). Replaced native Middle English hirsten, from Old English hierstan (“to fry”). Related to bhurji, bhujia (“fried Indian snacks”).

fry · noun²

1. Latin · derived fromfricō“to rub”
2. Old French · derived fromfroiz
3. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)per-
4. Proto-Germanic · derived from*fraiwą“seed, semen, offspring”
5. Old Norse · derived fromfrjó“seed, semen”
6. Middle English · inherited fromfrie“spawn of fish, young or small fish, offspring, progeny, children”
7. English todayfry

From Middle English frie (“spawn of fish, young or small fish, offspring, progeny, children”), probably from Old Norse frjó (“seed, semen”), from Proto-Germanic *fraiwą (“seed, semen, offspring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per-, *(s)prey- (“to strew, sow”). Cognate with Icelandic frjó (“pollen, seed”), Icelandic fræ (“seed”), Swedish frö (“seed, embryo, grain, germ”), Danish and Norwegian frø (“seed”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍅 (fraiw, “seed”). Likely merging with Old French froiz, froie (“spawn, spawning”), from froier, freier (“to spawn”), from Latin fricō (“to rub”). Compare friable.

fry · noun, verb³

1. Middle English · inherited fromfryth
2. English todayfry

Dialectal, of obscure origin. Perhaps related to or a corruption of frith (“a wood, forest", also "brushwood, wattle”), from Middle English fryth, frith (“forest, woodland, a fence of brush or wattle, hedge”).

Words from the same roots