English
fry
Fry comes from Middle English fryen ‘to fry’, and goes back to Latin frīgō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrīgō‘to roast, fry’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400frire
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fryen‘to fry’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590fry
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrīgō‘to roast, fry’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400frire
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fryen‘to fry’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590fry
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XII: “Ye might haue seene the frothy billowes fry”.
The story
Replaced native Middle English hirsten, from Old English hierstan (‘to fry’).
Linked words
through Latin frīgō ‘to roast, fry’
Another origin of fry
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)per-uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fraiwą‘seed, semen, offspring’uncertain
- Old Norsec. 800–1350frjó‘seed, semen’uncertain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frie‘spawn of fish, young or small fish, offspring, progeny, children’
- Englishtodayfry
Today it means
verb To cook (something) in hot fat.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin frīgō / fry