French fries (North American English, sometimes capitalized), chips (British English), fries, or french-fried potatoes (formal) are thin strips of potato that have been deep-fried. They are popular in many countries and go by many names in various languages. A distinction is sometimes made between fries and chips.

North Americans often refer to any elongated pieces of fried potatoes as fries, while in other parts of the world, long slices of potatoes are sometimes called fries to contrast them with the thickly cut strips, which are often referred to as chips. French fries are known as frites or pommes frites in many parts of Europe, and have names that mean "french potatoes" in others (Icelandic Franskar kartöflur, Finnish Ranskalaiset perunat). The straightforward explanation of the term is that it means potatoes fried in the French sense of the verb "to cook", which can mean either sautéing or deep-grease frying, while its French origin, frire, unambiguously means deep-frying, frites being its past participle used with a plural feminine substantive, as in pommes de terre frites ("deep-fried potatoes").

Thomas Jefferson at a White House dinner in 1802 served "potatoes served in the French manner". In the early 20th century, the term "French fried" was being used for foods such as onion rings or chicken, apart from potatoes. The verb "to french", though not attested until after "French fried potatoes" had appeared, can refer to "julienning" of vegetables as is acknowledged by some dictionaries, while others only refer to trimming the meat off the shanks of chops.

In the UK, "Frenched" lamb chops (particularly for serving as a "rack of lamb") have the majority of the fat removed together with a small piece of fatty meat from between the ends of the chop bones, leaving mainly only the meat forming the "eye" of the chop attached.

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