franklin

9.9

A person who owned land but was not noble in medieval England

noun
/ˈfræŋklɪn/

Archaic

: franquista

A franklin held land but did not possess the privileges of the nobility.

Examples

In Chaucer's tales, the franklin is portrayed as a generous and hospitable man.
Many franklins played important roles in local governance.
By the fifteenth century, the status of a franklin became increasingly rare in English society.
The franklin owned a large estate in the countryside.
In Chaucer's tales, the franklin is portrayed as a generous and hospitable man.
By the fifteenth century, the status of a franklin became increasingly rare in English society.
Many franklins played important roles in local governance.

Antonyms

noble

28 4.4

Being from a high social family by birth

serf

18 9.4

A person in the Middle Ages who must work a lord's land and cannot leave

Compounds

Benjamin Franklin Bridge

1 3.6

A bridge held up by cables across the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey

Surface Forms

franklin singular

franklins plural

Morphology

franklin = frank (opaque) = frank + lin

Although historically built from 'frank' + a diminutive suffix, the suffix '-lin' is not productive in modern English and the historical sense 'free' is not obvious to most learners, so the meaning 'free landowner' cannot be derived transparently.

Etymology

The word franklin comes from an old word based on frank, which meant 'free'. In medieval England a franklin was a free landowner, not a noble, and the word later became a family name like Benjamin Franklin.