What French name describes thick-cut fries about 10 millimeters wide?

The French name for thick-cut fries about 10 millimeters wide is pommes Pont-Neuf.

The term refers to a substantial baton-style cut, traditionally associated with the classic French fry rather than the very thin forms used for shoestring potatoes. In French culinary vocabulary, the name is linked to the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris, a landmark that also appears in one enduring story about the origins of fries sold by street vendors.

The size distinction is important. Pommes allumettes, meaning “matchstick potatoes,” are thinner, while pommes paille are thinner still and resemble potato straws. Pommes gaufrettes are waffle-cut potatoes, defined by their ridged lattice shape rather than by a simple square width. These labels describe cutting styles and proportions, not different potato varieties.

The history of French fries themselves is disputed. References to fried potatoes appear in France before the modern origin legends, and Thomas Jefferson’s notes from the early nineteenth century mention potatoes fried while raw in small slices. Thus, pommes Pont-Neuf is a precise culinary term for a cut, not proof that the Pont Neuf definitively invented fries.