Easiest

How to spell easiest

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce easiest

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does easiest mean?

1. adjectiveRequiring the least effort or difficulty; the most easy.

Easiest in a sentence

• This route is the easiest way to reach the office during rush hour.

• Paying the bill online turned out to be the easiest part of the move.

Where does easiest come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the superlative form of 'easy', which came into English in the early 1200s from the Old French 'aisie', meaning 'comfortable' or 'at ease'. That word grew out of 'aise', a noun for comfort, convenience, or elbow room, whose deeper origin is uncertain but may trace to the Latin 'adiacens', meaning 'lying nearby' or 'adjacent', the idea being something within easy reach. Over time the sense shifted from physical comfort to the modern meaning of requiring little effort. The superlative is built in the ordinary English way, by adding '-est' to the adjective, but because the base ends in a 'y', that letter changes to 'i' before the suffix, giving the 'ie' spelling that some writers second-guess. Knowing that 'easy' supplies the 'eas-' stem and that the 'y' simply softens to 'i' makes the spelling 'easiest' easier to fix in memory.

How the word is built

• eas- (root from 'easy', comfort/ease)
• -i- (from y)
• -est (superlative suffix)