Easier

How to spell easier

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce easier

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does easier mean?

1. adjectiveMore easy; requiring less effort or causing less difficulty than something else.

Easier in a sentence

• Booking the flight online was far easier than queuing at the desk.

• The new software makes the monthly accounts much easier to manage.

Where does easier come from?

Language of origin: French

This is simply the comparative form of the adjective 'easy', which English took from the Old French 'aisié' and the related noun 'aise', meaning comfort, opportunity, or elbow room. The French word is generally traced back to a Latin source, with many scholars connecting it to 'adiacens', meaning 'lying nearby' or 'adjacent', the idea being that something close at hand is convenient and free of trouble. From the 1200s onward 'ease' and 'easy' settled into English to describe a lack of difficulty or discomfort. The comparative 'easier' follows the regular English rule for short adjectives ending in -y: the y becomes i before the -er is added, which is the small spelling step worth remembering. The same root still lives on in the word 'ease' itself and in 'easel', a borrowing that took a separate path.

How the word is built

• eas- (from easy, comfortable, untroubled)
• -ier (comparative suffix, the -y of 'easy' changing to -i)