1890–95, < German: Frankfort sausage; see -er 1
A frankfurter is another name for a hot dog. It's the mild sausage served on a bun that you eat while watching a baseball game. Depending where you're from, you might call a frankfurter a frank, a wiener, or a dog. Frankfurters are pink or red sausages made of meat trimmings packed inside a thin, edible casing, and served with mustard, ketchup, or relish. The name, adopted in English during the late 19th century, reflects the German heritage of all variations on the frankfurter — it comes from Frankfurter wurst, "sausage of Frankfurt."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She soon was hired by fellow Kentuckian and Postmaster Fred C. Alexander of the frankfurter debacle.
From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2025
He admits to having a similar maudlin blindspot when it comes to Detroit's Coney dogs — a beef frankfurter on a bun smothered in beanless chili, mustard, onions and shredded cheese.
From Salon • Sep. 27, 2022
The annual Fourth of July frankfurter fest normally happens outside Nathan’s flagship shop in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 4, 2021
Papa John’s locations in South Korea are now offering the “American Hot Dog Pizza,” featuring a frankfurter embedded into every single slice.
From Fox News • Dec. 5, 2019
One crumpled frankfurter lav 011 its side, its one wheel horizontal above it, a traffic fatality.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
