# easy

Pronunciation: say "EE-zee" US /ˈizi/, UK /ˈiːzɪ/

## Adjective

1. Requiring little skill or effort to do or achieve.
   - Simple: Not hard, so you can do it without much skill or work.
   - _Assembling the shelf turned out to be an easy job._
   - _The climb looked steep, but the trail was easier than expected._
3. Comfortable and relaxed, free from worry, strain, or formality, or giving such comfort.
   - Simple: Feeling or showing calm and comfort, or making someone feel comfortable and relaxed.
   - _The hammock promised an easy afternoon away from every chore._
   - _Wealth gave him an easy existence free from daily labor._
7. Readily consenting to sex; used as a derogatory judgment, typically about a woman. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Willing to have sex without much persuasion, used as an insult.
   - _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._
8. Willing to go along with whatever others choose, or easily persuaded, especially to help or give.
   - Simple: Happy to go along with what others want, or easy to talk into helping or giving.
   - _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._
9. Of money or credit, plentiful and available at low cost.
   - Simple: Plentiful and cheap to borrow, when talking about money or credit.
   - _With money easy and rates low, businesses expanded quickly._
   - _Lenders kept credit easy throughout the long boom._

## Adverb

2. With little difficulty or effort, used especially after come and in comparisons such as easier said than done.
   - Simple: Without trouble or much effort, as in "it doesn't come easy" or "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._
4. Without worry or tension, in a casual, comfortable way.
   - Simple: In a calm, relaxed 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._
5. With leniency or a light touch rather than severity or force.
   - Simple: In a gentle, soft way, not harshly.
   - _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._
6. Handily; by a comfortable margin, or at the very least.
   - Simple: Without any trouble, or at least and likely more.
   - _The stadium holds sixty thousand easy on a big night._
   - _There were two hundred people at the wedding, easy._

## Interjection

10. Said to get someone to settle down, ease off, be careful, or quit what they are in the middle of doing. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Something you say to make someone calm down, go slower, be careful, or stop.
   - _Easy now, the ladder isn't tied down yet._
   - _Whoa, easy! Put the bat down and let's talk about this._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Something that requires little effort or skill to accomplish.
- (verb) Synonym of easy-oar: in rowing, to stop pulling and let the boat run on.

## 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."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/easy (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).