Frankly

How to spell frankly

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce frankly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does frankly mean?

1. adverbIn an open and honest way; speaking candidly without holding back.

Frankly in a sentence

• Frankly speaking, the budget will not stretch that far.

• She answered every question frankly during the interview.

Where does frankly come from?

Language of origin: French

The word frankly grows out of the adjective frank, which English took from the Old French franc, meaning 'free' and also 'sincere'. That French word in turn comes from the name of the Franks, the Germanic people who conquered Gaul; because only the Franks held full freedom in their kingdom, the tribal name came to mean 'free'. From 'free' the sense softened into 'unrestrained in speech', that is, willing to say what one thinks without holding back. The adjective entered English in the 1300s, and the adverb frankly, formed simply by adding the native English ending -ly, was being used by the late 1500s to mean 'in an open, candid manner'. The spelling keeps the -k- of frank intact, so the only thing to remember is the single -ly ending rather than a doubled letter.

How the word is built

• frank (open, candid, from the Frankish people)
• -ly (adverb suffix)