Meanings
fry1
present singular third person fries · participle present frying · participle past fried · past fried
- A method of cooking food.
- obsoleteTo simmer; to boil.
With crackling flames a caldron fries.
1697, Virgil, “The Seventh Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC1 more example
Ye might haue seene the frothy billowes fry
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- To affect or be affected by extreme heat or current.
- colloquialintransitiveTo suffer because of too much heat.
You'll fry if you go out in this sun with no sunblock on.
- USambitransitiveslangTo execute, or be executed, by the electric chair.
He's guilty of murder: he's going to fry.
1 more example
C: Bad time to kill a cop. / B: There's a good time? / C: No. Only now the State gets to fry his ass.
1995 October 18, Morgan Gendal, Barry M. Schkolmick, Michael S. Chernuchin, “Savages” (02:16 from the start), in Law & Order, season 6, episode 3, spoken by Detective Lennie Briscoe and Detective Rey Curtis (Jerry Orbach and Benjamin Bratt)
plural fries
- CanadaUSplural normallyfriescookingA long, thin fried piece of cut potato.
Synonyms: chip, French fry
- broadlyplural normallyA long, thin fried piece of other foods.
halloumi fries
- USplural normallyfriescookingA lamb or calf testicle.
Synonyms: prairie oyster, Rocky Mountain oyster, tendergroin
fry2
- uncountableYoung fish; fishlings.
it is not possible for man to sever the wheat from the tares, the good fish from the other frie; that must be the Angels Ministery at the end of mortall things.
1644, John Milton, Areopagitica - UKdialectaluncountableOffspring; progeny; children; brood.
Keen was the frost and crisp the snow over our world; and we young fry of the King households were all agog to enjoy life—for was it not Saturday, and were we not left all alone to keep house?
1913, Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Golden Road, L.C. Page & Co. - archaicuncountableA swarm, especially of something small.
a fry of children
- UKdialectaluncountableThe spawn of frogs.
fry3
present singular third person fries · participle present frying · participle past fried · past fried
- dialectaltransitiveTo make a brushwood drain.
Fry4
- A surname.
FRY5
- abbreviationhistoricalinitialismInitialism of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
With a few strokes, the international creditors helped dismember the FRY and put a fiscal headlock on the newly “independent” republics.
2000, Michael Parenti, chapter 2, in To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia, New York: Verso, →ISBN, page 21
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA long, thin fried piece of cut potato.
nounA meal of fried sausages, bacon, eggs, etc.
nounThe liver of a lamb.
nounA lamb or calf testicle.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna young person of either sex
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
fry · verb, noun
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰerǵ-der.?
- Latinfrīgō
- Old Frenchfrire
- Middle Englishfryen
- Englishfry
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”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →fry · noun
- Latinfricō“to rub”
- Old Frenchfroiz
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)per-
- Proto-Germanic*fraiwą“seed, semen, offspring”
- Old Norsefrjó“seed, semen”
- Middle Englishfrie“spawn of fish, young or small fish, offspring, progeny, children”
- Englishfry
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.
More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →fry · noun, verb
- Middle Englishfryth
- Englishfry
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”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek τηγανίζω, ταγηνίζω
- τηγανίζω (tēganízō)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- ταγηνίζω (tagēnízō)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Arabic قَلَى
- قَلَى (qalā)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Basque frijitu, erregosi
- frijituto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- erregosito cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Bulgarian пържа се, пържа
- пържа се (părža se)(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- пържа (părža)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- пържени картофи (părženi kartofi)fried potato
- дребна рибка (drebna ribka)young fish
Catalan fregir, aleví
- fregirto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- alevíyoung fish
Chinese Cantonese 煎, 炒
- 煎 (zin¹)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- 炒 (caau²)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- 薯條 /薯条fried potato
Chinese Mandarin 煎, 炒
- 煎 (jiān)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- 炒 (chǎo)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Czech smažit se, smažit se
- smažit se(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- smažit sesuffer because of too much heat
- péci sesuffer because of too much heat
- smažitto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- usmažitto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- plůdekyoung fish
- potěryoung fish
Danish stege, dybstege
- stege(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- dybstege(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- blive stegtsuffer because of too much heat
- stegeto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- braseto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- stegemadmeal of fried sausages, bacon, etc
- yngelyoung fish
- fiskeyngelyoung fish
Dutch bakken, braden
- bakkento cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- bradento cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Esperanto friti
- fritito cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Estonian praadima
- praadimato cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Finnish paistua, käristyä
- paistua(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- käristyä(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- paistuasuffer because of too much heat
- sulaasuffer because of too much heat
- käristyäinformal: be executed by the electric chair
- käristääto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- ranskalaiset perunatfried potato
- kalanpoikanenyoung fish
- pikkukalayoung fish
French frire, griller
- frire(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- grillersuffer because of too much heat
- faire frireto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- fritefried potato
- fraiyoung fish
German braten, kochen
- braten(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- kochensuffer because of too much heat
- grilleninformal: be executed by the electric chair
- bratento cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- Fischbrutyoung fish
- Setzlingyoung fish
Greek τηγανίζω, ψήνομαι
- τηγανίζω (tiganízo)(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- ψήνομαι (psínomai)suffer because of too much heat
- τηγανίζω (tiganízo)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- τηγανητή πατάτα (tiganití patáta)fried potato
- γόνος (gónos)young fish
- ψαράκια (psarákia)young fish
Hebrew טוגן \ טֻגָּן, היטגן \ הִטַּגֵּן
- טוגן \ טֻגָּן (tugán)(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- היטגן \ הִטַּגֵּן (hitagén)(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- טיגן \ טִגֵּן (tigén)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Hindi तलना
- तलना (talnā)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Hungarian süt
- sütto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Irish frioch, gealóg
- friochto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- gealógyoung fish
Italian friggere, friggere
- friggere(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- friggeresuffer because of too much heat
- friggereinformal: be executed by the electric chair
- friggereto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- fritto mistomeal of fried sausages, bacon, etc
- patata frittafried potato
- patatine frittefried potato
- avannottoyoung fish
Japanese (油で)揚げる, 炒る
- (油で)揚げる (ageru)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- 炒る (iru)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- 煎る (iru)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- 稚魚 (chigyo)young fish
Korean 튀기다
- 튀기다 (twigida)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Latin frīgō
- frīgōto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Latvian cept
- ceptto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Lithuanian kepti
- keptito cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Malay goreng, anak ikan
- gorengto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- anak ikanyoung fish
Māori parai, parai
- parai(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- paraito cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- potoyoung fish
Norwegian steke
- steketo cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Norwegian Bokmål yngel
- yngelyoung fish
Persian ویجیدن
- ویجیدنto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Polish smażyć się, smażyć się
- smażyć się(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- smażyć sięsuffer because of too much heat
- prażyć sięsuffer because of too much heat
- smażyćto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- usmażyćto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- frytkafried potato
- narybekyoung fish
- zarybekyoung fish
Portuguese fritar, assar
- fritar(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- assarsuffer because of too much heat
- fritarto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- fritafried potato
- alevinoyoung fish
Romanian prăji, prăji
- prăji(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- prăjisuffer because of too much heat
- frigeto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- prăjito cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- cartofi prăjițifried potato
- cartofi paifried potato
- peștișoryoung fish
- caracudăyoung fish
Russian жа́рить, поджа́рить
- жа́рить (žáritʹ)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- поджа́рить (podžáritʹ)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- малёк (maljók)young fish
Scottish Gaelic praidhig, praidhig
- praidhig(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- praidhigto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- frith-iasgyoung fish
Slovak smažiť
- smažiťto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Spanish freírse, asarse
- freírse(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- asarsesuffer because of too much heat
- freírinformal: be executed by the electric chair
- freírto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- papas fritasfried potato
- patatas fritasfried potato
- alevínyoung fish
Swahili kaanga
- kaangato cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Swedish steka, steka
- steka(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- stekasuffer because of too much heat
- stekato cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- yngelyoung fish
- fiskyngelyoung fish
Tamil வறு, வறு
- வறு (vaṟu)(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- வறு (vaṟu)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Thai ทอด
- ทอด (tɔ̂ɔt)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Turkish kızarmak, kızarmak
- kızarmak(intransitive) cook in hot fat or oil
- kızarmaksuffer because of too much heat
- yanmaksuffer because of too much heat
- kızarmakinformal: be executed by the electric chair
- kızartmakto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- kızartmameal of fried sausages, bacon, etc
- kızartmafried potato
- bebek balıkyoung fish
- balıkçıkyoung fish
- parpa (of the turbot)young fish
Ukrainian сма́жити, підсма́жити
- сма́жити (smážyty)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- підсма́жити (pidsmážyty)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Urdu تلنا
- تلنا (talnā)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Vietnamese chiên, rán
- chiênto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
- ránto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Welsh ffrio
- ffrioto cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Yiddish פּרעגלען
- פּרעגלען (preglen)to cook (something) in hot fat or oil
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with fry
All rhymes →Cite this entry
fry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fry
“fry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fry. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fry,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fry.
Source: fry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.