"to fry" in seven languages
Meaningto fry
Spanish
freír
/fɾeˈiɾ/
inherited
Participle frito, from FRĪCTUM.
French
frire
/fʁiʁ/
inherited
Defective; everyday French says faire frire.
Italian
friggere
/ˈfriddʒere/
inherited
Portuguese
fritar
/fɾiˈtah/
inherited
Built on the participle frito (FRĪCTUM).
Romanian
prăji
/prəˈʒi/
other source · Old Church Slavonic pražiti 'to roast'
Catalan
fregir
/fɾəˈʒi/
inherited
English
fry
/fɹaɪ/
from Latin/French · Old French frire, Latin FRĪGERE
English → Italianto fryfriggereCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
FRĪGERE‘to roast, to fry’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
FRĪGERE's g before e went the j-g way where it survived (Italian friggere [dʒ], Catalan fregir [ʒ]) and vanished in Spanish freír and French frire. Portuguese built its verb on the participle: frito → fritar.
English relatives: fritter, French fries
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esFríe la cebolla en un poco de aceite.
- frFais frire l'oignon dans un peu d'huile.
- itFriggi la cipolla in un po' d'olio.
- ptFrite a cebola num pouco de óleo.
- roPrăjește ceapa în puțin ulei.
- caFregeix la ceba amb una mica d'oli.
- enFry the onion in a little oil.