The quality or state of being unstable, unreliable, or eccentric in behavior; also, the condition of being difficult to operate (of a mechanical crank).
From 'crank' plus the -ness suffix forming abstract nouns. 'Crank' can mean both an eccentric person and a mechanical device.
This word captures something fascinating: we call both unstable machinery and weird people 'cranky,' suggesting our ancestors thought something broken and something strange shared the same root quality.
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