Etymograph

English

simple

Simple comes from Old French simple, from Latin simplex ‘simple, onefold’, from semel ‘once’ + plicō ‘to fold’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsimplex1‘simple, onefold’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400simple1‘innocent’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500symple1‘guiltless’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1470–1485simple1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English simple
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1470–1485, Capitulum LV: “‘That was a symple cause,’ seyde Sir Trystram, ‘for…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsimplexWiktionary, English simple‘simple, onefold’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400simpleWiktionary, English simple‘innocent’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sympleWiktionary, English simple‘guiltless’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1470–1485simpleWiktionary, English simple. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1470–1485, Capitulum LV: “‘That was a symple cause,’ seyde Sir Trystram, ‘for…”

The story

Inherited from Middle English symple, from Old French simple, from Latin simplex (“simple”, literally “onefold”) (as opposed to duplex (“double”, literally “twofold”)), from semel (‘the same’) + plicō (‘to fold’). Partially displaced native English onefold.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *pel-

  • film ← filme ← filmen ← *filmīn- ← *filmīn-
  • felt ← *pilto
  • push ← pushen ← pousser ← poulser ← pulsō
  • filter ← filtre ← filtrum ← *felt ← *fellą
  • powder ← poudre ← poudre ← pulverem ← pulvis
  • fold ← folden ← fealdan ← *falþan ← *falþaną
  • pulse ← puls ← pous ← pulsus
  • pillow ← pilwe ← pyle ← *pulwī ← pulvīnus
  • repeal ← repeler ← rapeler ← repellō ← pellō
  • complain ← complaynen ← complaindre ← complangere ← plangere
  • flaw ← *flaugh ← vlāghe ← *flagā ← *flagǭ
  • palate ← palat ← palātum ← *pleh₂-os

164 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Uncomplicated; lacking complexity; taken by itself, with nothing added.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “simple”. 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 / Latin simplex / simple