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START / NODE 397Present-Day English1597–today
candid
Open or frank in modern English, inherited through French and Latin from a family of brightness and whiteness.
“Candid did not begin as a personality trait. Its first recorded English sense was white, before brightness and purity were moralized into frank honesty.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishcandid
open, frank, honest; originally white in English
↑GO DEEPER
Middle French · Middle French, c. 1300–1600candidebrilliant; favorably disposed
- SOUND CHANGE
- English borrowed the adjective through Middle French candide with spelling and pronunciation adapted to English.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- Brightness, favor, and unblemished quality develop toward openness, fairness, and frank expression.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established
- CHRONOLOGY
- The first reported English sense in 1597 is white.
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NOT INSCRIPTION.
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