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Glite Dictionary
fry bread

fry bread

4 6.1
A flat fried bread made from wheat or corn, often served in Native American communities
  • noun
  • /fraɪ brɛd/
  • US
translation icon : pan frito
  • She lingered to watch them as Grandfather and her brothers walked to the hogan for some of Grandmother's tasty fry bread.
  • fry bread and mutton stew
  • piece of fry bread
  • fry bread and mutton

You know, it's been so long since I've had some of that good fry bread and like, my kids didn't know what it was.

Examples

  • He was a chubby kid whose first happy travel memory is of scarfing down Navajo fry bread at a rodeo in Arizona when he was in fourth grade.

    Blog text (15)

  • Most fry bread includes flour, sugar, lard, salt, and a leavening agent.

    Blog text (13)

  • The evening meal was warm fry bread and ham.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • I do have bacon, fry bread and beans.

    Monster Grizzly (2023)

  • After the tent was up, Papa bought Joseph a piece of hot fry bread.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • He liked the smell and taste of the hot fry bread.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Do you have a traditional recipe for Navajo fry bread?

    Blog text (27)

  • Evie and Lydia were making fry bread, waiting for the corn soup to cool enough to serve their mother.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • She's at Navajo Fair eating fry bread and cotton candy, dancing the Two-Step with her boyfriend.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The evening meal featured warm fry bread topped with honey and butter.

Synonyms

skillet corn bread
vsfry bread
  • US
3.4

A type of cornbread cooked in a frying pan that has a crisp golden crust

is cooked in hot oil or in a pan using wheat, corn, or both
skillet bread
vsfry bread
  • US
4.7

Bread cooked in a skillet over a fire, often made as cornbread or soda bread with ham added

is broader as it can be cooked in oil and made from various flours

Surface Forms

fry bread singular
fry breads plural

Morphology

fry + bread

The meaning 'a type of bread that is fried' is directly and compositionally derived from 'fry' (cook in oil) + 'bread' (baked/dough product), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to bread prepared by frying. Although it can denote a specific cultural dish, the cooking-method + food structure is cross-linguistically common and therefore immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Fry bread comes from Native American kitchens where people mixed a simple dough and cooked it in hot fat or oil until it puffed and turned golden. The name is plain: you fry the bread, so today the phrase means a flat, fried bread often eaten at gatherings.