Simplified

How to spell simplified

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce simplified

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does simplified mean?

1. verbMade something easier to understand or do by removing complexity.
2. adjectiveMade plainer or easier, with detail or complexity stripped away.

Simplified in a sentence

• verb

  The new software simplified the way we file our tax returns.

• adjective

  The museum offers a simplified guide for visitors who are short on time.

• verb

  The editor simplified the dense report so any reader could follow it.

• adjective

  The contract came with a simplified summary written in plain language.

Where does simplified come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense and past participle of the verb 'simplify', which English assembled from Latin roots in the early 1600s. The base lies in the Latin word simplus, meaning 'single' or 'plain', the same source that gives us 'simple'. The ending traces to the Latin facere, 'to make' or 'to do', which produced the productive verb-forming suffix -ify, so to simplify is literally 'to make simple'. English picked up the verb partly through the French simplifier, and the regular -ed ending was added to form the past. Because the second syllable is an unstressed schwa, the spelling 'simpli-' rather than 'simple-' is the small trap worth remembering: the silent 'e' of 'simple' is dropped and replaced with an 'i' before the suffix.

How the word is built

• simpl- (from Latin simplus: single, plain)
• -ify (to make)
• -ed (past tense/participle)