easy

English Online Dictionary. What means easy‎? What does easy mean?

English

Alternative forms

• easie (obsolete)

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 (“not difficult, easy”), from Old English ēaþe, īeþe (“easy, smooth, not difficult”), from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *aut- (“empty, lonely”). Compare also Old Saxon ōþi (“easy, vacant, empty”), Old High German ōdi (“easy, effortless, vacant, empty”), Old Norse auðr (“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)

1. (now rare except in certain expressions) Comfortable; at ease.

2. Requiring little skill or effort.

3. Causing ease; giving comfort, or freedom from care or labour.

   Rich people live in easy circumstances.

   an easy chair

4. Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth.

   easy manners; an easy style
5. (informal, derogatory, of a person) Consenting readily to sex.

6. Not making resistance or showing unwillingness; tractable; yielding; compliant.
   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     He gained their easy hearts.
7. (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)

1. In a relaxed or casual manner.

2. In a manner without strictness or harshness.

3. Used an intensifier for large magnitudes.

4. Not difficult, not hard. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• breathe easy

Noun

easy (plural easies)

1. Something that is easy

Verb

easy (third-person singular simple present easies, present participle easying, simple past and past participle easied)

1. (rowing) Synonym of easy-oar

Anagrams

• Ayes, Saye, Seay, ayes, eyas, saye, yaes, yeas

Middle English

Adjective

easy

1. Alternative form of esy

Adverb

easy

1. 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.