I assume Brits call chips chips, because they are somewhat thick pieces “chipped” off of potatoes. Like chipped beef is… chipped off a big hunk of beef.

As for why we call them french fries, it has nothing to do with a lack of American intelligence, as some commenters have implied.

Fries probably does come originally from frites, which we would have seen other places. But frites, just means fries.

French refers not to the nationality, but rather a group of cuts. (Though since they are French named cuts, I guess it is also about them.) Something that is french cut is cut lengthwise in a thin strip. I thought this was common knowledge here, but I guess not.

There are more precise names, like batonnette, which is about the size of McDonalds fries. Or julienne, closer to the fries at Steak ’n Shake, or those little matchstick ones you can buy at some stores.

Incidentally, we also have french cut panties here. Which are cut high and thin in the front. I’m not a fan. And I assume most people have seen french cut green beans around?

We don’t.

These are chips which are made from fresh potatoes:

French fries

Crisps (in case that was your next question)

They don't. They have their own version of a similar concept which people insist on pretending are the same thing even though they're at least as different as macaroni and spaghetti - more so because they taste significantly different.*

These are chips:

These are fries:

You wouldn't call macaroni spaghetti so, for the love of God, please stop calling fries chips!

Thanks!

*Because chips have a smaller surface area in relation to their volume than fries, the “fried” flavour is less dominant and more of the flavour of the potato is retained. This brings their flavour closer to that of a roast potato. Closer… not the same…

French fries were known in America since at least 1895. Long before World War I.

No doubt American tourists first encountered long squared potatoes, fried, in France (few went to Belgium, and the claim that the Belgians invented fries is dubious). So whoever really invented them, they were first known via France.

As for who invented them, Parmentier, a Frenchman first popularized potatoes outside of England and Germany. The first reference I’ve found to fried potatoes was in France, logically enough. But the first mentions of long squared potatoes, around 1860, appear to close together in France and Belgium to say either invented them.

All of you...stop it…just stop it!

I'm British, and therefore qualified to respond.

If you are British;

These are “chips”

These are “crisps”

The below are “French Fries” or “Fries”. Note the difference in the size compared to “chips". Although most Brits will typically call them “chips" and not “fries"

These are “Pomme Allumette” (Potato Matchsticks)

And for completeness, this is a potato

:-)

Why do British call French fries chips?

We don’t.

These are French fries.

These are chips.

Chips are significantly thicker than fries. Generally speaking, in the UK, fries are only served at fast food places, or places which specialise in American food. In any other eatery, you’ll get chips, not fries.

Disclaimer:

This answer is not for monetisation. If you see this answer behind a paywall, then it is without the consent of the author.

French fries or chips were probably invented in the 19th century, though they may have been invented much earlier in Spain.

This means that their invention was long after the split between the UK and the USA, so it’s not surprising that different words became popular.

The general consensus is that the ‘French’ part is from the verb ‘to french’, which is to chop fine, not from ‘France’. In other words ‘chip’ and ‘french’ mean essentially the same thing.

In the UK ‘French fries’ refer to finely chopped, whereas ‘chips’ refers to what is called ‘steak fries’ in the USA.

‘Chips’ in the UK are eaten hot, ‘chips’ in the USA are what is called ‘crisps’ in the UK.

You will waste a lot of time asking “Why is….?” and “Why are….?” if you believe that the American way is the “standard”, and that everything else in the world is deviant.

Australia refers to chips as chips. Always have. When Ronald McDonald set up his franchises in Australia, they (and ONLY they) continued the American tradition of calling chips “french fries”. Staff in McDonalds reply robotically with “…and would you like FRIES with that?”, to which most Australians will reply “Yeah, I’ll have some chips!”

So yes, we say chips. We say footpath instead of sidewalk. We say lift instead of elevator. We say soft drink instead of soda pop. Lollies instead of candy. And on it goes!

Welcome to the rest of the world!

In the US we call these

“chips” or “potato chips”. and we call these

“Fries” or “French Fries”.

Sometimes we do call French Fries “chips” but it is usually reserved for British (sorry UKian) dishes like fish and chips.

We don’t.

These are French fries.

These are chips.

In the UK we know what we mean when we say fries, chips or crisps. There is no mystery no confusion.

If you choose to call them something different then that is entirely up to you. If I came to your Country it would be up to me to learn the difference, and if you came to mine the same applies.

Crisps

Chips (often cut a little thicker than these)

Fries

Thinner, (often made by extruding potato paste rather than being actual pieces of potato)

There are apparently many words in the UK and USA that are used differently. Not a problem, just mildly curious fact.

There are three distinct types of “fries”.

1. Fries. Plain and simple, are a Belgian invention. They are made from a certain type of potato containing a lot of starch. Mainly made out of Bintjes, other types sometimes used are Agria, Désirée, and Première en Santé. Fries, or Belgian Fries, are long thick slices of potato. The French call these “frites”.
2. French Fries. They are not made of Binjes, but out of other types of potato, usually containing less starch. They are cut in long thin slices as opposed to Belgian Fries which are thick. The French call these “allumettes” [matchsticks].
3. Chips. Made out of potatoes with a lot of starch but not the typical Belgian Bintjes. They are thick and short.

So we are talking about three distinct things here.

We don’t.

We call French fries ‘French fries,’ and by that term we mean a specific, relatively slender type of deep-fried potato baton developed in continental Europe.

When we talk about ‘chips,’ we are usually referring to a baton with a cross-section two or three times broader than that of French fries. These may be crisp on the outside or, if provided by a fish-and-chip shop, softer than is normal for French fries. In size, they are closer to what I believe Usonians call ‘home fries.’

Behold: the McCain frozen variants of the two products…

On the left, a chip. On the right, a French fry.

Just out of sight, my diet crashing and burning for the third time this year.

EDIT: Apparently I'm wrong about home fries - they are either cuboid or discoid depending on source (and if I can't do a ketchup home here, not can you) but not batonesque.

No. They are called pommes-frites (pronounced “pom-freet”) or simply frites. The literal translation is “fried [earth-] apples”; potato is pomme de terre (“earth apple”) in French.

Knowing the term belongs in Gastronomy 101.

I have never, in my entire life cooked “French Fries”. I make chips, sometimes crinkle cut, using a weapon I purchased a few years ago. It looks rather like a meat cleaver, but made out of corrugated iron, lol. These are chips:

This is the crinkle cut weapon:

This is the result:

The questioner has been given false data, I’m afraid.

British people do not call French fries “chips” - we call them (when we get them from McDonalds or KFC) “Fries”.

Americans don’t call real chips “French fries” - Americans call those ‘string-thin fried reconstituted potato-starch spaghetti’ “French fries”. Even the French deny all responsibility and knowledge of them. They’re definitely not French.

The above are chips (with fish).

These are ‘fries’.

They are completely different products.

Chips tend to be fatter and soggier than American fries. British people have a higher tolerance for limpness, I’ve noticed, because they think it somehow adds to the authenticity and character of the fry. Some of your more religious Brits may be eating them for penance.

They frequently chastise our delicious “freedom” fries for being “fake” or “plastic,” when really they mean “delicious.” That’s fine. Call it what you will. At least my fries taste good.

Some also claim that our chips and fries are “completely different.” That’s fine, then, just give me the fries every time. There’s no occasion where a chip is desirable where a fry wouldn’t be 10x better.

Why do people call French fries, "chips" in Europe?

In Europe, “Chips” or “French fries” are known as “pommes frites”, “patatas fritas”, “patates fregides”, “patates kızartması”, "frī kartupeļi", "τηγανιτές πατάτες", "cartofi prăjiți", "skrudintos bulvės", "sult krumpli" or a host of other different names, depending on which of the nearly 50 countries in Europe you mean and the language(s) spoken there.

The only European countries which refer to them as “chips” are the English speaking countries - that’s the UK and Ireland - for the reason that “chips” is the correct name for them in English.

Why do the Americans call chips “French fries?” when they do not come from France?

Q: If the British call French fries "chips" and potato chips "crisps", then what do they call "fries"?

So…

Just to get the first one out of the way, we call crisps “crisps”, because of their crispiness. They aren’t called chips because they’re not chipped off of anything (crinkle-cut come closest to that). Crisps are not made by chipping, they’re made by finely slicing.

It’s a catch-all term that also includes such savoury snacks as Pringles that are made from reconstituted mashed potato and starch. These are also accurate to describe as crispy, but venture increasingly far from the idea of having been “chipped”.

In both countries, once you get to something as clearly removed from the original potato as Cheetos, the word “snacks” tends to be more common than either “chips” or “crisps”, though I have heard both.

Now to the Meat, or indeed the Potatoes of the answer!

The missing piece of the puzzle here is that fries and chips are different things, and we therefore use both terms (usually not interchangeably, though there are always exceptions. It’s not exactly uncommon to see cheaper eating establishments falsely describe their fries as being chips).

Chips are made by cutting freshly-peeled whole potatoes into batons roughly 1cm (1/2″) square in cross section. For preference they’ll be cooked three times: First a quick blanch in boiling water, then two successive deep fries at increasing temperature, shaking them dry between each.

The US take on Fries (which are arguably Belgian in origin, and so called “French” due to a characteristically USian understanding of world geography) are made by first mashing the potato, then extruding it into batons roughly half that width. They have more in common with waffles than they do with chips. There’s a clear difference in both dimensions and texture. Badly-cooked chips are too firm and still taste raw, badly-cooked fries are like wet paper bags full of floury pus.

(just to clarify here… the origin is Belgian, where fries are cut just as us Brits cut chips, only thinner. The whole extrusion thing is a US “innovation”… Which also isn’t French)

Unlike chips, it’s almost unheard of for a restaurant to make their own fries outside of Belgium. These things are more typically mass-produced at minimum cost on an industrial scale and - because of the mechanical processing - you can hide any old junk in them, including starch recovered from the water you used to wash the potatoes or starch from other sources

Many restaurants, especially of the fast-food variety, tend to prefer fries because you rarely make your own, they’re easier to cook and more consistent (albeit lower) in quality, and they’re significantly cheaper.

You then have:

Pont Neuf Chips, cut thicker and shorter than the regular variety. They’re generally considered “posher” - in part because it’s harder to ensure that they’re properly cooked all the way through without being overcooked on the outside.

Potato Wedges, made in a similar fashion to chips, but with the skin left on and cut into a wedge shape - often seasoned too. A personal favourite of mine.

Crinkle Cut chips, made with a special cutter. Also a favourite, and pretty-much unheard of in the US so far as I’m aware.

Pan-Fried Potatoes, which can be made from potatoes that are already fully cooked (typically boiled). A great way to make use of spuds that you cooked too many of the day before.

Plus various other abominations, like spirals, which are also made with extrusion in the same manner as fries.

And the aforementioned waffles, of course.

French fries are not called chips in the UK, I don’t know about Ireland, French fries & chips are slightly different.

These are French Fries,

and these are chips.

Here is some very simple information about what ‘Brits’ ‘call things’!

We call chips ‘chips’ - not because we don’t call them French fries like America, but because they are chips.

We do not call chips ‘chip butties’ - the only things we call ‘chip butties’ are in fact chip butties.

The only things we call ‘crisps’ are crisps, perhaps remarkably.

The items called ‘French fries’ in America are not what we would ever call ‘French fries’ although we might call them ‘fries’. To us, French fries are something quite different - they are made with uncooked potato pieces which are deep fried. They are not made with cooked, mashed potato which is extruded into ‘French fry’ shaped pieces and deep fried. (The French call French fries ‘pommes frites’ or simply ‘frites’ and the very thin ones are sometimes called ‘pommes allumettes’ or just ‘allumettes’.)

For comparison, the italians call chips ‘patatine al forno’ and yet, weirdly, I never see any questions from Americans asking, ‘why do Italians call chips ‘patatine al forno’ and not French fries like in America?’ The also call crisps ‘patatina’ and French fries (real ones) ‘patatine’ but I don’t see any questions about that either.

Strange old world, isn’t it, where people speak different languages - whatever next!

It's just another case of American ignorance. Allow me to explain.

Fries originated in Belgium.

The official language of Belgium is French.

When americans were introduced to Belgian frites by somebody speaking French they thought they were French.

What americans call French fries should be called Belgian fries.

The uk call then chips because they are chipped of a potato.

When you thinly slice a potato and fry it it becomes crispy, hence the word crisps.

The term French fries is used in the uk to describe a thinner version of our chips because that's how the Belgians made them. Roughly speaking French fries are about 5mm wide and chips are at least 15mm wide.

They’re the same food. The British are more likely to cut their chips a little thicker, to give you a good contrast between the crispy outside and the steamy soft inside, whereas Americans are more likely to cut their fries a little thinner, for maximum crunch and so that you can feel like you got a ton of them. But the British still make thin chips, and the Americans sometimes make thick fries (and call them steak fries), so it’s all a matter of degree.

Fish and chips. Note the thick chips.

The British are much more likely to cover them in vinegar (especially malt vinegar), whereas Americans are much more likely to dip them in ketchup. In Utah, where I live, we make a cocktail of mayo, ketchup, and (sometimes) other spices, and dip them in that. We call it Fry sauce. Fry sauce is wonderful stuff, but if you’ve never tried fries with salt and vinegar, I recommend that as well.

Fries with fry sauce. Note the thin fries.

If Americans call crisps "chips" and chips "French fries" what do they call Sauteed fried potatoes (the real French fries)?

In the USA, pan-fried potatoes sautéed in shallow fat are often called Home Fries. The potato is often diced but may be coarsely shredded, and one may well find bits of onion or garlic, chopped bell peppers or chili peppers, or even bits of ham or bacon in the home fries. The potatoes may be served soft or may have a crispy brown finish, in which latter case they might be called Hashed Browned Potatoes.

Because America and Britain are two countries separated by thousands of miles of Ocean who have evolved the English language slightly differently. A slight confusion over the terminology of different sizes of fried potato slivers is perfectly understandable, and should cause no problems with those able to access the internet before a transatlantic holiday. Or even a Vacation !

UK,

Fries,

chips,

Crisps,