Etymograph

English

easy

Easy comes from Middle English esy ‘comfortable, pleasant’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500esy1‘comfortable’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1697easy1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English easy
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1697, Virgil, (please specify the book number): “He gain'd their easy hearts.”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500esyWiktionary, English easy‘comfortable’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1697easyWiktionary, English easy. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1697, Virgil, (please specify the book number): “He gain'd their easy hearts.”

The story

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’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with easy, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Middle English ese ‘ease’

through Middle English esy ‘with ease’

2 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Comfortable; at ease.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “easy”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle English esy / easy