small fry

English

Etymology

small +‎ fry, first use appears c. 1577, in the publications of John Dee.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

small fry (plural small fry or small fries)

1. One or more small or immature fish.
2. (informal) One or more children.
3. (idiomatic) One or more relatively small and insignificant individuals or things of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.

   Synonyms: small potatoes, minnow, nobody, no one

   Antonym: big fish

   The police did not arrest the drug dealer since he was small fry compared to his boss.

   These slot machines are just the small fry. The big games are in the back room.

Translations

one or more small fish

• Finnish: pikkukala
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀφύη f (aphúē)

• Japanese: 雑魚 (ja) (zako)
• Macedonian: ри́пче n (rípče)
• Middle English: menuse
• Russian: малёк (ru) m (maljók), мелюзга́ (ru) f (meljuzgá), ме́лкая рыбёшка f (mélkaja rybjóška), ры́бка (ru) f (rýbka)

one or more children

• Finnish: pikkuväki
• Russian: детвора́ (ru) f (detvorá) (collective, grammatically singular), мелюзга́ (ru) f (meljuzgá) (jocularly or pejoratively), ме́лочь (ru) f (méločʹ) (jocularly, also: "ме́лочь пуза́тая"), ребяти́шки (ru) pl (rebjatíški)

things or people of little importance

• Dutch: klein bier (nl) n
• Esperanto: nulo (eo)
• Faroese: æti
• Finnish: pikkutekijä (person), pikkujuttu (thing)
• French: menu fretin m
• German: kleine Fische (de) m pl
• Japanese: 雑魚 (ja) (zako)
• Macedonian: си́тна ри́ба f (sítna ríba)
• Polish: błahostka (pl) f, blotka (pl) f
• Russian: ме́лочь (ru) f (méločʹ), ме́лкая со́шка f (mélkaja sóška) (a person), ме́лкая рыбёшка f (mélkaja rybjóška) (a person)
• Spanish: Don Nadie

Further reading

• “small fry”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “small fry”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “small fry” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “small fry”, in Collins English Dictionary.