As a non-American, who hasn’t grown up with “grilled cheese sandwiches” but is nonetheless culturally aware of them: I always assumed this is what you called a

As a non-American, who hasn’t grown up with “grilled cheese sandwiches” but is nonetheless culturally aware of them: I always assumed this is what you called a “toasted sandwich”. However, I’ve since been led to believe that this is not the case and the comments here further confirm that. It thus leads me to one simple question: Why are they “grilled”, when they’re clearly fried?