frankness

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English frank

Proto-Germanic *-in-

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti

Proto-Germanic *-ōną

Proto-Germanic *-inōną

Proto-Indo-European *-dyé-

Proto-Germanic *-atjaną

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Germanic *-þuz

Proto-Germanic *-assuz

Proto-Germanic *-inassuz

Proto-West Germanic *-nassī

Old English -nes

Middle English -nesse

English -ness

English frankness

From frank + -ness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæŋknɛs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

frankness (countable and uncountable, plural franknesses)

1. The state of being frank; candour; honesty.

   complete frankness

   speak with frankness

   a moment of frankness

   She appreciated his frankness about the situation.

   With disarming frankness, he admitted his mistakes.

   • 2025 November 20, Michael M. Grynbaum, quoting Karoline Leavitt, “Trump Calling Reporter ‘Piggy’ Was ‘Frankness,’ White House Says”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     [Karoline Leavitt] put a different spin on the remark. “I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and the openness that you get from President Trump on a near-daily basis,” Ms. Leavitt told reporters during a briefing in the West Wing.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:veracity

Translations

frankness

• Bulgarian: искреност (bg) m (iskrenost), прямота (bg) f (prjamota)
• Czech: upřímnost (cs) f
• Dutch: openhartigheid (nl) f
• French: franchise (fr) f
• Galician: franqueza f
• German: Offenheit (de) f, Freimut (de) m, Freimütigkeit (de) f
• Hungarian: őszinteség (hu)
• Irish: oscailteacht f
• Italian: franchezza (it) f
• Kazakh: ашықтық (ašıqtıq)
• Manx: neucheiltynys m
• Portuguese: franqueza (pt) f
• Spanish: franqueza (es) f