easy

SayEE-zee/ˈizi//ˈiːzɪ/

12 meanings of easy

1
adjective
Requiring little skill or effort to do or achieve.
Assembling the shelf turned out to be an easy job.
The climb looked steep, but the trail was easier than expected.
UsageOften in it is easy to + verb or easy to + verb: easy to use, easy to find. The forms are easier and easiest.
Similarsimple, straightforward, effortless, painless, undemanding
Oppositedifficult, hard, challenging, demanding
2
adverb
With little difficulty or effort, used especially after come and in comparisons such as easier said than done.
Success didn't come easy for the band, which played small clubs for years before anyone noticed.
Cutting out sugar is easier said than done when there are cookies in every cabinet.
UsageMostly in set phrases: come easy, easy come, easy go, easier said than done. Elsewhere the usual adverb is easily: she won easily.
Similareasily
Oppositehard
3
adjective
Comfortable and relaxed, free from worry, strain, or formality, or giving such comfort.
The hammock promised an easy afternoon away from every chore.
Wealth gave him an easy existence free from daily labor.
Similarrelaxed, comfortable, carefree, leisurely, untroubled
Oppositehard, stressful, uncomfortable
Note
Here the ease passes from the person to whatever surrounds them. An easy chair is not itself relaxed; it makes its sitter so, just as easy circumstances make a life comfortable. The same meaning also covers the person who is at ease, so it can describe how you feel or what makes you feel that way.

Less common meanings

4
adverb
Without worry or tension, in a casual, comfortable way.
Relax and breathe easy now that the worst is over.
You can rest easy tonight, because the doors are locked and the alarm is on.
UsageMostly in set phrases: take it easy (not ~~incorrect: take it easily~~), breathe easy, rest easy.
Similarfreely, calmly, comfortably
5
gentlyadverb
With leniency or a light touch rather than severity or force.
The coach went easy on the rookies during their first week.
The judge went easy on the first-time offender, giving him community service instead of jail.
Similargently, softly, lightly
Oppositehard, harshly, roughly, heavily
Note
The harshness that is withheld is usually a judgment, a punishment or a demand.
6
comfortablyadverb
Handily; by a comfortable margin, or at the very least.
The stadium holds sixty thousand easy on a big night.
There were two hundred people at the wedding, easy.
UsagePlaced after the number, usually at the end of the clause and often after a comma: two hundred people, easy.
Similarcomfortably, handily
Note
Placed after a figure, it turns the number into a floor. 'Fifteen million dollars, easy' means at least that much and probably more.
7
sexually looseadjectivederogatorycolloquial
Readily consenting to sex; used as a derogatory judgment, typically about a woman.
The tabloids labeled the actress easy, a slur she fought for years.
Gossip painting her as easy revealed more about the town than about her.
UsageBest avoided except when reporting the slur. A bare she's easy usually carries this meaning, while easy to talk to is praise.
Similarpromiscuous, loose
Oppositechaste
Note
A judgment rather than a description, and a one-sided one: it is aimed at women, and calling someone easy in this way insults her.
8
adjective
Willing to go along with whatever others choose, or easily persuaded, especially to help or give.
When the others argued over where to eat, Dan just shrugged and said he was easy either way.
Everyone in the office knew Ray was an easy touch, so he ended up covering half the weekend shifts.
UsageCommon in I'm easy, meaning I don't mind, and an easy touch, someone who is quickly persuaded to give or help.
Similarcompliant, accommodating, yielding, amenable, pliant
Oppositestubborn, resistant, obstinate, uncooperative
Note
Applied to people who give way, and often to rulers and the ruled. In Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1819), a man is 'too tyrannical to be an easy monarch', which makes easy the opposite of tyranny. Dryden's Virgil (1697) speaks of 'easy hearts' won over.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
Walter Scott wrote Ivanhoe. en.wikipedia.org
Ivanhoe was first published in 1819. en.wikipedia.org
Ivanhoe contains the quoted description of a man, contrasting an easy monarch with a tyrannical one. De Bracy says this about Prince John. en.wikisource.org
Dryden's English translation of Virgil was first published in 1697. openbook.lib.utah.edu
Dryden's translation contains 'easy hearts' being won over, in Book II of the Aeneid. classics.mit.edu
9
cheap creditadjective
Of money or credit, plentiful and available at low cost.
With money easy and rates low, businesses expanded quickly.
Lenders kept credit easy throughout the long boom.
UsageMostly in easy money and easy credit; the opposite is tight.
Similarcheap, loose, plentiful, abundant
Oppositetight, dear, scarce
Note
Money-market language, still current in easy money and easy credit. A market is easy when funds are plentiful and cheap to borrow, and tight when they are scarce, so the pairing with tight is the key to reading it.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
In money-market terminology, easy describes plentiful, inexpensive credit, while tight describes scarce credit. federalreservehistory.org
10
interjectioncolloquial
Said to get someone to settle down, ease off, be careful, or quit what they are in the middle of doing.
Easy now, the ladder isn't tied down yet.
Whoa, easy! Put the bat down and let's talk about this.
UsageOften easy now, easy does it, or whoa, easy.
Similarsteady
11
nouncolloquial
Something that requires little effort or skill to accomplish.
12
verb
Synonym of easy-oar: in rowing, to stop pulling and let the boat run on.

Practice

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Origin

Middle English esy had two sources. One was ese ("ease") with -y added. The other was Anglo-Norman eisé, taken from aisié ("eased, at ease") in Old French, which was the past participle of the verb aisier, "to put at ease," formed from aise, a word of uncertain origin. It later merged with Middle English ethe ("easy"), which came from Old English īeþe and Proto-Germanic *auþuz and is related to Old Saxon ōþi and Old Norse auð-, both meaning "easy."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts

Middle English esy was formed partly from ese meaning “ease” plus -y. en.wiktionary.org
The other source was Anglo-Norman eisé, from Old French aisié meaning “eased, at ease.” en.wiktionary.org
Old French aisié was the past participle of aisier. en.wiktionary.org
Old French aisier meant “to put at ease” and was formed from aise. en.wiktionary.org
Old French aise has an uncertain origin. en.wiktionary.org
Easy merged with Middle English ethe meaning “easy.” en.wiktionary.org
Middle English ethe descended from Old English īeþe. en.wiktionary.org
Old English īeþe descended from Proto-Germanic *auþuz. en.wiktionary.org
The inherited word is related to Old Saxon ōþi and Old Norse auð-, both conveying “easy.” en.wiktionary.org