fry

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To cook food in hot oil or fat.

   I am frying some eggs for breakfast.

2. 2
   verb

   To be harmed by extreme heat or an electric current.

   You'll fry in this sun if you don't put on sunscreen.

3. 3
   noun

   Very young fish.

   Thousands of tiny fry swam near the surface of the pond.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Fry has two unrelated origins. The cooking verb comes from Latin frigere, which meant both “roast” and “fry.” The noun for young fish comes from Old Norse frió.

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.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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