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enfranchisement

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enfranchisement

  • /ɛnˈfɹæn(t)ʃɪzm(ə)nt/ UK
  • /ɪn-/ UK
  • /-ˈfɹɑːn-/ UK
  • /-ˌt͡ʃaɪz-/ UK
  • /ənˈfɹænˌt͡ʃaɪzm(ə)nt/ US

Rhymes with -æntʃɪzmənt, -æntʃaɪzmənt

Where it comes from

From enfranchise + -ment (suffix forming nouns meaning the actions or results of actions denoted by the verbs to which it is attached).

Enfranchise is derived from Late Middle English enfraunchisen, enfrauncheisen (“to grant (someone) citizenship; to grant (someone) membership of a guild, etc.; to grant (a town) privileges”), from Old French enfranchiss-, a stem of Anglo-Norman enfrauncher and its etymon Old French enfranchir (“to set free, enfranchise”), from en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + franchir (“to set free”) (from franc (“free”, adjective) + -ir (suffix forming infinitives of second-conjugation verbs)). Franc is from Medieval Latin francus (“free”, adjective), from Francus (“(adjective) of or relating to the Franks, Frankish; (noun) Frankish person, Frank”) (as full freedom was only possessed by people of the dominant Frankish group in Gaul), from Frankish *Frankō (“Frankish person, Frank”), probably from Proto-Germanic *frankô (“javelin”) (probably the weapon commonly used by the Franks), further etymology unknown.

noun enfranchisements · infranchisement

  1. uncountable Release from imprisonment, political oppression, or slavery; emancipation, liberation; (countable) an instance of this. So if a man […] restrain my person, or threaten me with battery, or with burning my house which is a safety and protection to my person, or with burning an instrument of manumission which is evidence of my enfranchisement; if upon such menace or duresse I make a deed, I shall avoid it by plea.

    Similar: affranchisement, manumission · Opposite: disenfranchisement, disfranchisement

  2. figuratively, uncountable The action of freeing or releasing; freeing, liberation, release; (countable) an instance of this. VVhence it follovvs that the amplitude and infranchiſement of humane reaſon cannot be ſaid properly to be impair'd by theſe limits and regulations.

    Opposite: disenfranchisement, disfranchisement

  3. countable, often, uncountable The granting of citizenship or political rights (especially the right to vote) to a person. Paul vvas a Roman by enfranchiſement (though a Jevv).

    Similar: effranchisement · Opposite: disenfranchisement, disfranchisement

  4. countable, often, uncountable The granting of membership of a corporation, municipality, etc., to a person. Enfranchiſement […] is deriued from the French word Franchiſe, that is, Liberty, and in the Common Law it hath diuers ſignifications, ſometimes the incorporating of a man to be free of a Company or body politique, as a free man of a Citie, or Burgeſſe of a burroughe, ⁊c. ſometimes to make an Alien a

    Similar: effranchisement · Opposite: disenfranchisement, disfranchisement

  5. countable, often, uncountable The granting of privileges, especially the right to be represented in a legislature, to a city or town. He holds an eſtate under certain cities in your government, of vvhich he is deſirous to procure the enfranchiſement: and I am perſuaded he may eaſily obtain his point, by the intervention of your good offices.

    Similar: effranchisement · Opposite: disenfranchisement, disfranchisement

  6. England, Wales, historical, uncountable The conversion of a copyhold or leasehold estate into a freehold estate; (countable) an instance of this. Another species of compulsory alienation takes place under the Acts by which either a lord of a manor or a copyhold tenant is entitled to compel enfranchisement through the medium of the Copyhold Commissioners. Enfranchisement, as has been seen, consists in the conveyance of the freehold by the lord

    Opposite: disenfranchisement, disfranchisement

Translations

Every language

noun granting of citizenship or political rights (especially the right to vote) to a person; an instance of this

Françaisextension, naturalisation, octroi

noun granting of membership of a corporation, municipality, etc., to a person; an instance of this

Françaisincorporation

noun granting of privileges, especially the right to be represented in a legislature, to a city or town; an instance of this

Françaisoctroi (à une personne ou à un groupe) d'un privilège, extension (à une personne ou à un groupe) d'un privilège

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MLA

"enfranchisement." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/enfranchisement. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

enfranchisement. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/enfranchisement

Chicago

"enfranchisement." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/enfranchisement.

BibTeX
@misc{enfranchisement_2026,
  title = {enfranchisement},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/enfranchisement},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}