Effortless

How to spell effortless

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce effortless

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does effortless mean?

1. adjectiveRequiring or appearing to require no exertion; achieved with apparent ease.

Effortless in a sentence

• The gymnast made the difficult routine look completely effortless.

• With practice, parking the van became almost effortless for her.

Where does effortless come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is built on 'effort', which English took from the French effort in the late 1400s. The French noun grew out of the Old French verb esforcier, meaning 'to force oneself' or 'to exert strength', and that in turn traces back to a Vulgar Latin form exfortiare, assembled from the Latin ex, meaning 'out', and fortis, meaning 'strong'. So the underlying idea is literally the act of drawing out one's strength. The ending -less is the native Old English suffix leas, meaning 'free from' or 'without', the very same one found in 'careless' and 'hopeless'. Joined together in the 1800s, 'effortless' describes something done without any drawing-out of strength, and the spelling trap lives in the doubled f from ex- meeting fort and in remembering the single, native -less rather than -less doubling anything.

How the word is built

• effort (from Old French esforz, ultimately Latin fortis 'strong')
• -less (without, from Old English -leas)