different between frank vs silly

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?æ?k/
• Rhymes: -æ?k
• Homophones: franc, Frank

Etymology 1

Middle English, from Old French franc (“free”), in turn from the name of an early Germanic confederation, the Franks.

Adjective

frank (comparative franker, superlative frankest)

1. honest, especially in a manner that seems slightly blunt; candid; not reserved or disguised.

2. (medicine) unmistakable, clinically obvious, self-evident

3. (obsolete) Unbounded by restrictions, limitations, etc.; free.

   • It is of frank gift.

4. (obsolete) Liberal; generous; profuse.
5. (obsolete, derogatory) Unrestrained; loose; licentious.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Derived terms

• frankly

Translations

Noun

frank (plural franks)

1. (uncountable) Free postage, a right exercised by governments (usually with definite article).
   • October 5, 1780, William Cowper, letter to Rev. William Unwin

     I have said so much, that, if I had not a frank, I must burn my letter and begin again.

2. (countable) The notice on an envelope where a stamp would normally be found.

Verb

frank (third-person singular simple present franks, present participle franking, simple past and past participle franked)

1. To place a frank on an envelope.
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, chapter 20

     It will be so ridiculous to see all his letters directed to him with an M.P.—But do you know, he says, he will never frank for me?

2. To exempt from charge for postage, as a letter, package, or packet, etc.
3. To send by public conveyance free of expense.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Dickens to this entry?)

Translations

See also

• prepay

Etymology 2

Shortened form of frankfurter.

Noun

frank (plural franks)

1. A hot dog or sausage.

   Synonyms: frankfurt, frankfurter

Related terms

• cocktail frank

See also

• sav
• savaloy

Etymology 3

Noun

frank (plural franks)

1. (Britain) The grey heron.

Etymology 4

From Old French franc.

Noun

frank (plural franks)

1. A pigsty.

Verb

frank (third-person singular simple present franks, present participle franking, simple past and past participle franked)

1. To shut up in a frank or sty; to pen up; hence, to cram; to fatten.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?fra?k]
• Rhymes: -a?k

Noun

frank m

1. franc (former currency of France and some other countries)
2. franc (any of several units of currency such as Swiss franc)

Further reading

• frank in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• frank in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Alternative forms

• vrank (archaic, except in the expression vrank en vrij)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch vranc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fr??k/
• Hyphenation: frank
• Rhymes: -??k
• Homophone: Frank

Adjective

frank (comparative franker, superlative frankst)

1. frank, candid, blunt, open-hearted
2. (dated) cheeky, brazen

Inflection

Derived terms

• frank en vrij

Estonian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

frank (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])

1. franc

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German franc, from Old French franc (“free”), of Germanic but eventually uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?a?k/

Adjective

frank (not comparable)

1. (archaic) frank

Usage notes

• Now almost exclusively used in the (also somewhat dated) expression frank und frei.

Declension

Further reading

• “frank” in Duden online

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frank/

Noun

frank m anim

1. franc

Usage notes

Unqualified modern usage typically refers to the Swiss franc.

Declension

English

Etymology

From Middle English seely, s?l?, from Old English s?li?, ?es?li? (“blessed; fortunate”), from Proto-West Germanic *s?l?g (“blissful, happy”), from *s?li (“happy, fortunate”). Equivalent to seel (“happiness, bliss”) +? -y. Doublet of Seelie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?li/
• Rhymes: -?li
• Homophone: Scilly

Adjective

silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)

1. Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.
   • 1600, William Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, Scene i, line 209:

     This is the silliest stuffe, that euer I heard.

   • 1970, Graham Chapman & al., Monty Python's Flying Circus, I, 183:

     Well sir, I have a silly walk and I'd like to obtain a Government grant to help me develop it.

   1. (of numbers, particularly prices) Absurdly large.
      • 1875 June 26, Saturday Review, 815/2:

        He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds... or by giving a silly price for a hack.

2. (chiefly Scotland, obsolete) Blessed, particularly:
   1. Good; pious.
      • a. 1450, Seven Sages, line 1361:

        The sylyman lay and herde,
        And hys wyf answerd.

   2. Holy.
      • 1650 in 1885, W. Cramond, Church of Rathven, 21:

        ... thrie Saturdayes befor Lambas and thrie efter called the six silie Saturdayes.

3. (now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion, particularly:
   • 1556 in 1880, William Henry Turner, Selections from the Records of the City of Oxford... 1509–83, 246:

     The fire raging upon the silly Carcase.
   1. (now literary) Innocent; suffering undeservedly, especially as an epithet of lambs and sheep.
      • a. 1475, in 1925, Rossell Hope Robbins, Secular Lyrics of the 14th & 15th Centuries, 109:

        There is no best in þe word, I wene...
        That suffuris halfe so myche tene
        As doth þe sylly wat.

      • a. 1513, William Dunbar, Poems, 247:

        In the silly lambis skin He crap als far as he micht win.

   2. (now literary) Helpless, defenseless.

      scared silly

      • 1539, Richard Morison translating Juan Luis Vives, Introduction to Wysedome:

        Wherfore Christe must soo moche the more instantelye be sought vpon, that he may vouchsafe to defende vs sylly wretches.

      • 1665, Thomas Manley translating Hugo Grotius, De Rebus Belgicis, 938:

        There remained fresh Examples of their Barbarism against weak Sea-men, and silly Fisher-men.

   3. Insignificant, worthless, (chiefly Scotland) especially with regard to land quality.
      • a. 1500, Robert Henryson translating Aesop, "Two Mice":

        Ane sillie scheill vnder ane erdfast stane

      • 1595, William Shakespeare, The third Part of King Henry the Sixt, vvith the death of the Duke of Yorke, Act III, Scene iii, line 93:

        ...A pettigree
        Of threescore and two yeares a sillie time,
        To make prescription for a kingdomes worth.

      • 1907, Transactions of the Highland & Agricultural Society, 19, 172:

        It is naturally very poor, ‘silly’ land.

   4. Weak, frail; flimsy (use concerning people and animals is now obsolete).
      • 1567, John Maplet, A Greene Forest:

        Here we see that a smal sillie Bird knoweth how to match with so great a Beast.

      • 1587, Philip Sidney & al. translating Philippe de Mornay, A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, xxxii, 596:

        [Christ] leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behind him to vphold his sillie kingdome.

      • 1946 in 1971, Scottish National Dictionary, Vol. VIII, 234/3:

        That'll never grow. It's ower silly.

   5. Sickly; feeble; infirm.
      • 1636, Alexander Montgomerie, The Cherrie & the Slae, line 1512:

        To doe the thing we can
        To please...
        This silly sickly man.

      • 1818, Walter Scott, "Heart of Mid-Lothian", v:

        Is there ony thing you would particularly fancy, as your health seems but silly?

4. (now rural Britain, rare) Simple, plain, particularly:
   1. Rustic, homely.
      • 1570, John Foxe, Actes & Monumentes, Vol. II, 926/1:

        Dauid had no more but a sylie slynge, and a few stones.

   2. (obsolete) Lowly, of humble station.
      • a. 1547, the Earl of Surrey translating Publius Virgilius Maro, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aeneis, Book II:

        The silly herdman all astonnied standes.

      • 1568, Alexander Scott, Poems, 27:

        So luvaris lair no leid suld lak,
        A lord to lufe a silly lass.

5. Mentally simple, foolish, particularly:
   1. (obsolete) Rustic, uneducated, unlearned.
      • 1687, Archibald Lovell translating Jean de Thévenot, The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant, i, 2:

        From Hell (of which the silly people of the Country think the top of this hill to be the mouth).

   2. Thoughtless, lacking judgment.
      • 1576, Abraham Fleming translating Sulpicius, A Panoplie of Epistles, 24:

        Wee sillie soules, take the matter too too heauily.

      • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, iii, 252:

        ‘Heaven help this silly fellow,’ murmured the perplexed locksmith.

      • 1972, George Lucas & al., American Graffiti, 8:

        Steve, don't be silly. I mean social intercourse.

      • 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 3:

        Framed? Framed? Oh, grow up, Mattie. The truth is that everyone is sillier than you could possibly imagine they'd be. What a dickhead.

   3. (Scotland) Mentally retarded.
      • 1568, Christis Kirk on Grene:

        Fow ?ellow ?ellow wes hir heid bot scho of lufe wes sillie.

      • 1814, Walter Scott, Waverley, III, xvi, 237:

        Davie's no just like other folk... but he's no sae silly as folk tak him for.

   4. Stupefied, senseless; stunned or dazed.
      • 1829 January 17, Lancaster Gazette:

        You say you were knocked silly—was that so?

      • 1907, John Millington Synge, Playboy of the Western World, iii, 64:

        Drinking myself silly...

      • 1942, J. Chodorov & al., Junior Miss, ii, i, 113:

        Well, Judy, now that you've scared me silly, what's so important?

      • 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 2:

        I can kick this stuff any time I like. I tell you what. Get this week over, we'll go to a health farm for ten days. No drugs. No drink. And shag ourselves silly. How about that?

6. (cricket, of a fielding position) Very close to the batsman, facing the bowler; closer than short.
   • 1862 July 4, Notts. Guardian:

     Carpenter now placed himself at silly-point for Grundy, who was playing very forward.

Usage notes

Silly is usually taken to imply a less serious degree of foolishness, mental impairment, or hilarity than its synonyms.

The sense meaning stupefied is usually restricted to times when silly is used as a verb complement, denoting that the action is done so severely or repetitively that it leaves one senseless.

Synonyms

• (playful): charming
• Also see Thesaurus:foolish

Antonyms

• (playful): pious

Derived terms

• (adverb): sillily, silly
• silliness
• silly season

Translations

Adverb

silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)

1. (now regional or colloquial) Sillily: in a silly manner.
   • 1731, Colley Cibber, Careless Husband, 7th ed., i, i, 21:

     If you did but see how silly a Man fumbles for an Excuse, when he's a little asham'd of being in Love.

Noun

silly (plural sillies)

1. (colloquial) A silly person.
   • 1807 May, Scots Magazine, 366/1:

     While they, poor sillies, bid good night,
     O' love an' bogles eerie.

2. (endearing, gently derogatory) A term of address.
   • 1918 September, St. Nicholas, 972/2:

     ‘Come on, silly,’ said Nannie.

3. (colloquial) A mistake.

Translations

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, ""silly, adj., n., and adv.", 2013.

Anagrams

• silyl, slily, yills