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# franklin

proper noun (Franklin — a name); noun (a franklin, franklins — history, rare)

«franklin» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (a name) Franklin is a first name and a family name, as in Benjamin Franklin, one of the founders of the United States, and Franklin the Turtle in children's books. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/#m1)
2. (history) In old England, a franklin was a free man who owned land but was not a lord or a knight. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/#m2)

### In the lessons

In lessons the word is almost always a name: Benjamin Franklin is famous for his kite experiment with lightning, for inventing bifocal glasses and the lightning rod, and for helping write the Declaration of Independence; his face is on the US hundred-dollar bill. Franklin is also a place name (many US towns) and a character in picture books. In history lessons about the Middle Ages, a franklin is one of the people in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Phrases: «Benjamin Franklin», «Franklin the Turtle», «the Franklin expedition» (a lost voyage to the Arctic).

### Examples

- Benjamin Franklin flew a kite in a storm to learn about electricity. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/#x1)
- Franklin helped write the Declaration of Independence. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/#x2)
- My little brother loves the Franklin the Turtle books. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/#x3)
- There is a picture of Franklin on the hundred-dollar bill. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/#x4)
- We drove through a small town called Franklin. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/#x5)
- In Chaucer's story, the franklin loves good food and wine. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/#x6)
- Franklin invented the lightning rod to protect houses. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/#x7)

### Note

Written with a capital F when it is a name. As an old word for a free landowner (small f) it is rare and only met in history. Do not invent facts about a person called Franklin in a story: read what the text says. Benjamin Franklin did not "discover" electricity; he showed that lightning is electricity.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «franklin» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/franklin/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«franklin» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/franklin.html) on Mova free.