English Online Dictionary. What means easy? What does easy mean?
English
Alternative forms
- aisy (dialectal, archaic)
- easie (obsolete)
- eazy (eye dialect)
- EZ (abbreviation, US, informal)
Etymology
From Middle English eesy, esy, partly from Middle English ese (“ease”) + -y, equivalent to ease + -y, and partly from Old French aisié (“eased, at ease, at leisure”), past participle of aisier (“to put at ease”), from aise (“empty space, elbow room, opportunity”), of uncertain origin. See ease. Merged with Middle English ethe, eathe (“easy”), from Old English īeþe, from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *aut- (“empty, lonely”). Compare also Old Saxon ōþi, Old High German ōdi, Old Norse auðr, all meaning "easy, vacant, empty." More at ease, eath.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈiːzi/, /ˈiːzɪ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈizi/
- Rhymes: -iːzi
Adjective
easy (comparative easier or more easy, superlative easiest or most easy)
- (now rare except in certain expressions) Comfortable; at ease.
- Requiring little skill or effort.
- Causing ease; giving comfort, or freedom from care or labour.
- Rich people live in easy circumstances.
- an easy chair
- Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth.
- easy manners; an easy style
- (informal, derogatory, of a woman) Consenting readily to sex.
- Not making resistance or showing unwillingness; tractable; yielding; compliant.
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- He gain'd their easy hearts.
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- (finance, dated) Not straitened as to money matters; opposed to tight.
- The market is easy.
Synonyms
- (comfortable): relaxed, relaxing
- (not difficult): light, eath
- (consenting readily to sex): fast
- (requiring little skill or effort): soft, trivial
- See also Thesaurus:easy
Antonyms
- (comfortable, at ease): uneasy, anxious
- (requiring little skill or effort): difficult, hard, uneasy, uneath, challenging
Derived terms
Related terms
- ease
Descendants
- → Faroese: isi
- → Finnish: iisi
Translations
Adverb
easy (comparative easier, superlative easiest)
- In a relaxed or casual manner.
- In a manner without strictness or harshness.
- Used an intensifier for large magnitudes.
- Not difficult, not hard. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Derived terms
- breathe easy
Noun
easy (plural easies)
- Something that is easy
Verb
easy (third-person singular simple present easies, present participle easying, simple past and past participle easied)
- (rowing) Synonym of easy-oar
Anagrams
- Ayes, Saye, Seay, ayes, eyas, saye, yaes, yeas
Middle English
Adjective
easy
- Alternative form of esy
Adverb
easy
- Alternative form of esy
References
- “esi (adv.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 21 June 2018.
- “esi (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 21 June 2018.