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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

fry.

A method of cooking food.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/fɹaɪ/
  1. A method of cooking food. To cook (something) in hot fat.

    transitive
    I am frying the eggs.
  2. A method of cooking food. To cook in hot fat.

    intransitive
    The eggs are frying.
  3. A method of cooking food. To simmer; to boil.

    obsolete
  4. To affect or be affected by extreme heat or current. To suffer because of too much heat.

    colloquial · intransitive
    You'll fry if you go out in this sun with no sunblock on.
  5. To affect or be affected by extreme heat or current. To execute, or be executed, by the electric chair.

    US · ambitransitive · slang
    He's guilty of murder: he's going to fry.
  6. To affect or be affected by extreme heat or current. To destroy (something, usually electronic), often with excessive heat, voltage, or current.

    informal · transitive
    If you apply that much voltage, you'll fry the resistor.
    Taking drugs for years fried his brain.
  7. To entertain (a person) greatly; to make to laugh thoroughly.

    slang · transitive
    This joke is absolutely frying me.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵ-der.? Latin frīgō Old French frirebor. Middle English fryen English fry 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”).

noun/fɹaɪ/
  1. A long, thin fried piece of cut potato.

    Canada · US · plural-normally
  2. A long, thin fried piece of other foods.

    broadly · plural-normally
    halloumi fries
  3. A meal of fried sausages, bacon, eggs, etc.

    Ireland · UK
  4. The liver of a lamb.

    Australia · New-Zealand
  5. A lamb or calf testicle.

    US · plural-normally
  6. A state of excitement.

    archaic · colloquial
    to be in a fry
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵ-der.? Latin frīgō Old French frirebor. Middle English fryen English fry 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”).

noun/fɹaɪ/
  1. Young fish; fishlings.

    uncountable
  2. Offspring; progeny; children; brood.

    UK · dialectal · uncountable
  3. A swarm, especially of something small.

    archaic · uncountable
    a fry of children
  4. The spawn of frogs.

    UK · dialectal · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/fɹaɪ/
  1. A kind of sieve.

  2. A drain, usually made of brushwood.

Where this word comes from

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”).

verb/fɹaɪ/
  1. To make a brushwood drain.

    dialectal · transitive
Where this word comes from

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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.