Are there any differences between these Chinese terms for "French fries" / (hot) "chips"? I just felt like some French fries for the first time since I've been in China so I bought some from a Dico's here in Zhangjiakou.

I ordered by pointing at the menu becuase I'm just beginning at Mandarin and don't know the Chinese word yet. But when I took note of the characters on the menu and then pulled out my phrasebook when I sat down to eat, I noticed the terms were totally different. When I got home and looked on Wiktionary I found there were even more terms. Here's just the simplified character spellings of the terms I found so far:


马铃薯条 (mǎlíngshǔtiáo)
薯条 (shǔtiáo)
土豆条 (tǔdòutiáo)
炸薯条 (zhàshǔtiáo)
炸土豆条 (zhátǔdòutiáo)


I'd like to know if any have subtle differences in meaning, are old fashioned, are used in some places but not others, etc. Or are they all totally interchangeable?
马铃薯 (commonly known as 土豆 in Northeastern China) is the general term
for potato.
(炸/马铃)薯条 is commonly understood as French fries (hot chips). By default, both 炸
and 马铃 are redundant.


土豆条 and 炸土豆条 are the less common terms for French fries.

Other related terms:


薯片 - potato chips / potato crisps / packet chips
薯泥 - mashed potato
薯餅 - hash brown
烤马铃薯 - baked potato
薯角 - potato wedges
土豆丝 - shredded potato