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fritz

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Fritz¹

  • /fɹɪts/

Rhymes with -ɪts

Where it comes from

Borrowed from German Fritz, pet form of Friedrich (“Frederick”).

noun Fritzes

  1. UK, ethnic, offensive, slur A German person, usually male. Someone sent up a shout and word came that oil had begun to show on the water—that meant one less submarine afloat! Again the roar of guns—again the shout! Two Fritzes sunk. . . !

    Similar: Boche, jerry, Kraut, Hun

proper noun Fritzes

  1. UK, offensive A name used to represent the German people (particularly the German armed forces) as a group. But if Fritz is stationed in that patch of woodland, we've got no chance!
  2. A diminutive of the male given name Friedrich. Uncle Fritz “talked eyes” when he was the most deeply aggrieved; and little Fritz found it most unpleasant to have an American relative addicted to the same bad habit. She came into the room just then and there, and, seeing the two Fritzes in such confidential discussion, would have speedily withdra
  3. A surname from German. The highly anticipated all-American matchup between Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe — marking the first US Open semifinals between two US men in nearly 20 years — will cost you quite a few Honey Deuces to attend.

fritz²

  • /fɹɪts/

Rhymes with -ɪts

Where it comes from

Unknown. See on the fritz, which appeared in 1902. Possibly from German name Fritz, or onomatopoeia.

noun

  1. Northern US, informal, uncountable The state of being defective.
  2. Australia, South, uncountable A type of processed meat sausage; devon Generally, cooked deli products include Devon, Strasbourg sausage, Polish sausage, fritz, cabanossi or cabana, mortadella, and well-cooked roast beef (brown/grey in colour).

verb fritzes · fritzing · fritzed

  1. intransitive To go wrong or become defective. One clip, of Talking Heads playing “Born Under Punches” in Rome in 1980, is shot largely at groin level, amid sound equipment that is being manipulated for feedback squeals and other effects; it’s like being close to the crooked spine and fritzed nervous system of a body that’s simultaneously pushin

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: francois, long, outage, screw-up, blackout, lowlife, françois, frits, malfunctioning, faulty, kaput, inoperative, broken, busted, haywire, damaged

Translations

Every language

noun derogatory: a German person

Portuguêschucrute
FrançaisBoche, chleuh, fritz, fridolin
DeutschBoche, Kraut, Krautfresser, Krautfresserin, Scheißdeutscher, Scheißdeutsche
Italianocrucco, crucca, mangiapatate
Русскийфриц fric, ганс gans, немчура́ nemčurá, шваб švab

verb Go wrong or become defective

Deutschkaputtgehen

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Cite this
MLA

"fritz." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fritz. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

fritz. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fritz

Chicago

"fritz." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fritz.

BibTeX
@misc{fritz_2026,
  title = {fritz},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fritz},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}