small fry
"small-fry" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“small fry” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One or more small or immature fish.
Corpus desk
Index EN-small-fry · small fry · English
small fry · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | small fry |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “small fry” in English
Rare enough to double-check
small fry is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
small fry doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From small + fry, first use appears c. 1577, in the publications of John Dee. The correct English form is small fry, spelled S-M-A-L-L- -F-R-Y.
Definition
- 1One or more small or immature fish.
- 2One or more children.
- 3One or more relatively small and insignificant individuals or things of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how small fry appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
After his death in 1950, his widow and a board of trustees who were left with responsibility of running the cranberry plant decided to continue the miniature railway's services to the "small fry", and it opened as usual on December 6, 1951.
The police did not arrest the drug dealer since he was a small fry compared to his boss.
Etymology
From small + fry, first use appears c. 1577, in the publications of John Dee.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.