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DUTCH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

Fries.

a Frisian, member of a Germanic people (both the modern people and the ancient Frisii); a speaker of one of the Frisian languages

5 characters1 syllables approx.Nederlands language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈfris/

  1. a Frisian, member of a Germanic people (both the modern people and the ancient Frisii); a speaker of one of the Frisian languages

    masculine

  2. a West Frisian specifically; a speaker of the West Frisian language

    masculine

  3. Short form for various names relating to Friesland or Frisians, such as the bovine race.

    masculine
Where this word comes from

From Middle Dutch Friese, but also Vriese, Vrese, from Old Dutch *Frieso, probably via Old Saxon *Frēso. Borrowed and re-borrowed, at varying times in history, from Old Frisian Frēsa, Frīsa (modern West Frisian Fries). Probably ultimately from Proto-Germanic *frisaz (“curly, frizzy”), named for their curly hair. Also compare Latin Frisii. Initial v- is expected from natural development from Old Dutch, in which voicing of initial f- to v- occurs naturally. The modern form with f- is probably influenced by the Frisian endonym. However, the original voiced consonant is retained in the common surname de Vries.

name/ˈfris/

  1. Frisian (any of the Frisian languages)

    neuter

  2. specifically, West Frisian

    neuter
Where this word comes from

From Fries + -s.

adj/ˈfris/

  1. Frisian (any member of the Frisian people)

  2. West Frisian specifically (of the Frisian part of the Netherlands)

Where this word comes from

From Fries + -s.

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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.