How do you pronounce easy?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈiːzi/.

Where does easy come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

easy

/ˈiːzi/

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: 5.29 in modern English

Syllables: ea-sy
IPA: /ˈiːzi/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Comfortable; at ease.

adj

Requiring little skill or effort.

adj

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

adj

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

adj

Consenting readily to sex.

Derogatory; Informal

adj

Not making resistance or showing unwillingness; tractable; yielding; compliant.

adj

Not straitened as to money matters; opposed to tight.

Dated

adv

In a relaxed or casual manner.

Example Sentences

"Now that I know it's taken care of, I can rest easy at night."
"Mrs. Jennings left them earlier than usual; for she could not be easy till the Middletons and Palmers were able to grieve as much as herself […]"
"“[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”"
"It's often easy to wake up but hard to get up."
"The teacher gave an easy test to her students."
"Now the easiest sell in traveldom is made even easier."

Etymology

From Middle English esy, eesy, partly from Middle English ese (“ease”) + -y, equivalent to ease + -y, and partly from Anglo-Norman eisé 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 *h₂éwtus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to enjoy, consume”). Compare also Old Saxon ōþi, Old High German ōdi, Old Norse auðr, auð-, Icelandic auð (adverb), auð-, all meaning "easy." More at ease, eath.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *(H)yeh₁-, esy, ese, eisé, aisié, ethe
Suffix: ease

Usage

Inflected Forms

easier (comparative) more easy (comparative) easiest (superlative) most easy (superlative) aisy (alternative, archaic) easie (alternative, obsolete) eazy (alternative, pronunciation spelling) EZ (alternative, US) easies (plural) easies (present, singular) easying (participle, present) easied (participle, past)

Derived Forms

easily easiness easybeat easycore easygoing easyish overeasy steezy supereasy uneasily uneasiness

Phrases

easy as falling rolling off a log easy aces easy as 123 easy as ABC easy as cake easy as kiss my hand easy as pie

Frequently Paired Words

ease easy thing

Synonyms

easy-oar Echo relaxed relaxing light eath fast soft trivial facile as a duck takes to water basic

Homonyms

easie

Antonyms

uneasy anxious difficult hard uneath challenging complex esoteric tough tricky

Rhymes With

cheesy uneasy breezy sleazy queasy marchese sweezy veasey fabrizi veazey veazie greasy