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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

Spend enough years standing behind pyramids of hamburgers, posing at fry stations and inserting yourself into the iconography of American restaurant chains, and eventually the props begin to accrue meanings of their own.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

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

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

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026

We are small fry by most standards, but I can imagine state lawmakers looking at us as easy pickings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026

“Queenie, from now on if you fry a pullet this small, fry two.”

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

"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

Rep. Russell Fry has entered the race, and why not?

From Slate ● Jul. 25, 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

Fry glances at Big Foot and the two of them seem to come to a quick, silent understanding about what to do with our earthly remains.

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

It’s either Mexican food, or something really good and greasy like a Five Guys burger and a bag full of fries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

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

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

Gregor took a handful of his fries and placed them on my tray.

From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence

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

Anderson’s Billy steps out of the shadows with a full face of femme fatale makeup and a syrupy Dolly Parton drawl, promptly serving Kris enough fried chicken to feed a bobsled team.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

The steam emanating from a fried zucchini fritter was…unnatural.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

French fries and other fried foods are popular largely because of their crisp texture and rich flavor.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

Then she laid out a plate of fried chicken.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

According to Takhar, one of the central challenges in frying is preventing oil from moving into food both during cooking and immediately afterward.

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

I know that’s not easy to predict, but it does seem like an “out of the frying pan, into the fire” sort of situation.

From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026

Big bite after big bite, while the two of them return to staring at dead birds in a frying pan.

From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers

Related Words

• sauté