Simple

How to spell simple

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce simple

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does simple mean?

1. adjectiveEasily done or understood; plain and not complicated.

Simple in a sentence

• The recipe is simple enough to finish in ten minutes.

• She preferred a simple design with no extra decoration.

Where does simple come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin simplus, and its relative simplex, which described something that is single-fold or made of one element only; the roots combine sem- meaning 'one' or 'together' with the idea of a fold or layer, so a simple thing was literally something folded just once rather than many times over. Latin handed the word to Old French as simple, with the sense of plain, unmixed, and uncomplicated, and English borrowed it in the 1200s. Over the centuries the meaning branched in two directions: one positive, describing things that are easy and uncluttered, and one less flattering, describing a person of plain or limited understanding. The same single-fold root survives in everyday relatives such as 'simplify', 'simplicity', and the more technical 'simplex'. Because the word is so familiar and follows an ordinary spelling pattern, the only mild trap is the silent, unstressed -le ending shared with words like 'sample' and 'dimple'.

How the word is built

• simpl- (from Latin simplus/simplex: single-fold, plain)
• -e