fritter
/ˈfɹɪtɚ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.26 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A dish made by coating various other foods in batter and frying or deep-frying them together, typically in small portions.
verb
To squander or waste time, money, or other resources; e.g. occupy oneself idly or without clear purpose, to tinker with an unimportant part of a project, to dally, sometimes as a form of procrastination.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "And cut whole giants into fritters."
- "I was supposed to do work, but I frittered around all afternoon."
- "He can’t figure out how to finish the paper he’s writing, so he’s resorted to frittering with the fonts."
- "It is quite possible to fritter one's life away in answer to the endless calls of others."
- "Break all nerves, and fritter all their sense."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English fryture, from Middle French friture, from Old French friture, from Vulgar Latin *frīctūra, from Latin frīgō (“to fry”); compare fry. For the development of Middle English /iu̯r(ə)/ into /ə(ɹ)/, compare armour, batter, border, solder.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: fryture, friture, *frīctūra, frīgō
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfɹɪtɚ/
- British English: /ˈfɹɪtə(ɹ)/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Food.
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
apple fritter
corn fritter
French fritter
fritter batter
oyster fritter
rice fritter
spam fritter
fritter away