call a spade a spade
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
To speak frankly.
How to use it
✗ Avoid it when
This expression is widely considered racist or offensive today; the history is documented in the notes. Documented here descriptively, not as an endorsement.
Connotation: offensive to many; contested
Examples
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Imported from Wikipedia “List of idioms considered racist” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29), pending review. Why it’s contested: The idiom originates from classical Greek and has been used in English since the mid-16th century. It is sometimes considered racist in modern contexts, after "spade" emerged as a racial slur (meaning an African American person) in the 1920s.
Common questions
What does “call a spade a spade” mean?
To speak frankly.
Is “call a spade a spade” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.