Ease and Easy Come From a Word for Elbow Room
Ease is freedom from difficulty. The Latin root may have meant the space to move your arm.
Ease is freedom from difficulty, effort or discomfort. One long-standing suggestion traces it to Latin *adjacens*, lying nearby, and another to a word for elbow room — space enough to move comfortably. Either way the image is physical room, which became room in a figurative sense. The military *at ease* is literal: soldiers are allowed to relax their stance, and *ill at ease* means exactly the opposite, having no comfortable room to stand in.
- Freedom from difficulty. *With ease.*
- To make easier. *Ease the pain.*
- To move gently. *Ease it into place.*
- At ease — relaxed. *Stand at ease.*
- Old French — *aise*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | ease | Ease. |
| Verb | ease | Easing. |
| Adjective | easy | Easy. |
| Adverb | easily | Easily. |
| Opposite | unease | Unease. |
- She passed with ease.Simplicity.
- Ease the lid off slowly.Gentleness.
- He felt ill at ease.Discomfort.
Words built on ease
- Easy — requiring little effort
- Unease — a vague discomfort
- Disease — literally dis-ease, the absence of comfort
- Easel — unrelated, from Dutch *ezel*, a donkey
- Easement — a legal right of comfortable use over another's land
Old French *aise*, comfort or opportunity, of uncertain origin, possibly from Latin *adjacens*.
Is disease related to ease?
Yes. It is dis-ease, the absence of comfort, though it narrowed to illness while ease kept the broader sense.
Is an easel related?
No. That comes from Dutch ezel, a donkey, because the stand carries a load the way a pack animal does.