Fritter

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈfɹɪtə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. To spend resources such as time or money in a careless or unproductive way ; a small piece of food, typically battered and fried, often containing fruit, meat, or vegetables
2. To gradually lose something by using it wastefully or in small amounts ; a type of snack made by coating ingredients in batter and frying until crisp
3. To squander or dissipate something bit by bit through lack of care ; a fried dish made by frying chunks or bits of various ingredients in batter

Etymology: The verb "fritter" meaning to squander money in small, careless amounts goes back to the kitchen. It comes from Middle English "fryture", a word for a fried food, which in turn came from Old French "friture", meaning something fried or the act of frying. That French word descends from a Vulgar Latin form, "frīctūra", built on the Latin "frīgō", "to fry", which is also the ancestor of the English verb "fry". The sense of breaking something into small pieces comes from the fritter as a dish. A fritter is batter-coated food cut into bits and fried, so the idea of reducing something into small fragments was the bridge. Over time the word moved from a bit of fried batter to something crumbled or whittled away, and eventually to resources spent in tiny, scattered amounts. The meaning came to describe money dribbled away rather than spent in one considered lump.

Synonyms: squander, waste, dissipate, consume, spend

Antonyms: save, conserve, preserve, invest, accumulate