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• fry
  fry

  verb (used with object)

  to cook in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.
• Fry
  Fry

  noun

  Christopher, 1907–2005, English playwright.

fry

¹ American  

[frahy] / fraɪ /

verb (used with object)

• fries,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fried,
  past participle,  past
• frying
  present participle

1. to cook in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.

2. Slang. to execute by electrocution in an electric chair.

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verb (used without object)

• fries,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fried,
  past participle,  past
• frying
  present participle

1. to undergo cooking in fat or oil.

2. Slang. to die by electrocution in an electric chair.

noun

• fries
  plural

1. a dish of something fried.

2. a piece of french-fried potato.

3. a party or gathering at which the chief food is fried, frequently outdoors.

   a fish fry.

fry ² American  

[frahy] / fraɪ /

noun

• fry,
  plural,  plural
• fries
  plural

1. a young fish.

   a salmon fry.

2. a young animal of certain other kinds, as frogs and oysters.

3. a person, especially a young or unimportant one.

   The prime minister had to bank on the cooperation of lesser fry.

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Fry ³ American  

[frahy] / fraɪ /

noun

1. Christopher, 1907–2005, English playwright.

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fry ¹ British  

/ fraɪ /

verb

1. to cook or be cooked in fat, oil, etc, usually over direct heat

2. informal (intr) to be excessively hot

3. slang to kill or be killed by electrocution, esp in the electric chair

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noun

1. a dish of something fried, esp the offal of a specified animal

   pig's fry

2. a social occasion, often outdoors, at which the chief food is fried

3. informal the act of preparing a mixed fried dish or the dish itself

Fry ² British  

/ fraɪ /

noun

1. Christopher . 1907–2005, English dramatist; author of the verse dramas A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946), The Lady's Not For Burning (1948), and Venus Observed (1950)

2. Elizabeth . 1780–1845, English prison reformer and Quaker

3. Roger Eliot . 1866–1934, English art critic and painter who helped to introduce the postimpressionists to Britain. His books include Vision and Design (1920) and Cézanne (1927)

4. Stephen ( John ). born 1957, British writer, actor, and comedian; his novels include The Liar (1991) and The Stars' Tennis Balls (2000)

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fry ³ British  

/ fraɪ /

plural noun

1. the young of various species of fish

2. the young of certain other animals, such as frogs

3. young children See also small fry

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fryable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fries
  plural
• fry
  plural

Participles

• frying
  present
• fried
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fry
  simple
• fries
  simple
• have fried
  perfect
• has fried
  perfect
• am frying
  progressive
• are frying
  progressive
• is frying
  progressive
• have been frying
  perfect progressive
• has been frying
  perfect progressive

Past

• fried
  simple
• had fried
  perfect
• was frying
  progressive
• were frying
  progressive
• had been frying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fry
  simple
• will have fried
  perfect
• will be frying
  progressive
• will have been frying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fry¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; 1925–30 fry ¹ for def. 2; Middle English frien, from Anglo-French, Old French frire, from Latin frīgere “to roast”

Origin of fry²

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English frie, fry “seed, descendant,” perhaps from Old Norse frjō “seed”; cognate with Swedish frö, Gothic fraiw “seed”

Explanation

To fry food is to cook it in very hot oil until it's crispy. For breakfast, you could fry yourself an egg, and maybe fry some bacon to go with it. You can stir fry vegetables and deep fry doughnuts — and you have to be careful on a hot summer day not to (figuratively) fry yourself in the sun. When fry is a noun, it's usually short for "French fry," but it also means youngster, or "small fry." This less common meaning comes from Scottish, possibly from the Old Norse root frjo, "offspring."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fry Fry fries fried frying

Salmon also suffered, partly because drought had affected inland rivers, where Chinook and Coho migrate to spawn, eggs hatch, and salmon fry swim back downstream to the ocean.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Miscommunications between adapter and charger can fry the device or even spark fires, warns Michael Pecht, a mechanical-engineering professor at the University of Maryland.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

The stock market has bigger fish to fry this summer than a bump in oil prices.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026

My favorite application is chicken, especially if I’m planning to bread and fry it or throw it in the air fryer.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

I never understood what Tariq saw in that small fry.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

"Look, the United States Senate is no place for on-the-job training," Fry said last during a primary debate last week.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

Fry and his allies have spent just about $1 million and Sanford’s campaign has spent about $640,000.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

An audio version read by Sir Stephen Fry is now in the Spotify UK audiobook top 10, while Sir Ian McKellen's narration has entered the equivalent chart in the US.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Times editorial library director Cary Shcneider and staff writer Hannah Fry contributed to this report.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

Big Foot crosses his arms in an imitation of me, which Fry finds so hilarious, he does it too.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

The factory that AFP visited in Hunan province's Pingjiang turns out nearly 700 tonnes per day of the spongy, red-coloured strips, which look like squashed French fries covered in oil.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

I work from the tail toward the head until my plate holds just a frame, some skin, one or two fries I’m saving for no good reason.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

Along with six all-beef hot dogs and six sauces, the $60 tower comes with waffle fries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

In comparison, the Jack in the Box medium Classic Smashed Jack Combo comes with a quarter-pound cheeseburger, fries and a drink for $12.29.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

When Will didn’t answer, Ben helped himself, nabbing a handful of fries from Will’s tray.

From "Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story" by Nora Raleigh Baskin

My first bite of Hong Kong is a fried soup dumpling, filled with truffled pork and that holy trinity, garlic, ginger, scallion.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

“I knew we were gonna have dim sum,” Wang said, “or amazing, huge platters of fried rice.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

This combined approach could allow manufacturers to produce fries with less oil while preserving the flavor and texture that make fried foods appealing.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

"When we go out for pizza, people don't just order a Margherita. They put chips, sausages and fried food on top."

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

Probably it was just his brain getting fried from poison fumes, but he croaked out a laugh.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

The proposed system would use conventional frying to brown the surface and create crunch, while microwave energy would speed moisture removal and help prevent excess oil from entering the potato.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

The miracle everyone pulls off is making a poisonous relationship dryly hilarious, even if every civilized exchange eventually becomes a figurative frying pan flying through the air.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Otherwise you’re just railing in impotent fury at the companies frying the planet.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

The jury was told that the 17-year-old boy was further back, holding a frying pan.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

He went on alone, trying to ignore the aroma of frying fish that drifted from the Apprentices’ Quarters and, it seemed, from every other house he passed.

From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

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