French fried potatoes ( also French fries , just fries in North America , chips in the United Kingdom , Ireland and Commonwealth ) , are a type of food made out of potatoes . French fries ( American English , or Chips sometimes capitalized ) , fries , or French-fried potatoes are thin strips of deep-fried potato . Americans often refer to any elongated pieces of fried potatoes as fries , while in other parts of the world , most notably the United Kingdom , Australia , Ireland and New Zealand , long , thinly cut slices of fried potatoes are called fries to distinguish them from the thickly cut strips called chips .