different between easy vs cakewalk

English

Alternative forms

• aisy (dialectal, archaic)
• easie (obsolete)
• eazy (eye dialect)
• EZ (abbreviation, US, informal)

Etymology

From Middle English eesy, esy, partly from Middle English ese (“ease”) + -y, equivalent to ease +? -y, and partly from Old French aisié (“eased, at ease, at leisure”), past participle of aisier (“to put at ease”), from aise (“empty space, elbow room, opportunity”), of uncertain origin. See ease. Merged with Middle English ethe, eathe (“easy”), from Old English ?eþe, from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *aut- (“empty, lonely”). Compare also Old Saxon ?þi, Old High German ?di, Old Norse auðr, all meaning "easy, vacant, empty." More at ease, eath.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?i?zi/, /?i?z?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?izi/
• Rhymes: -i?zi

Adjective

easy (comparative easier or more easy, superlative easiest or most easy)

1. (now rare except in certain expressions) Comfortable; at ease.

2. Requiring little skill or effort.

3. Causing ease; giving comfort, or freedom from care or labour.

   Rich people live in easy circumstances.

   an easy chair

4. Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth.

   easy manners; an easy style
5. (informal, derogatory, of a woman) Consenting readily to sex.

6. Not making resistance or showing unwillingness; tractable; yielding; compliant.

   • He gain'd their easy hearts.
7. (finance, dated) Not straitened as to money matters; opposed to tight.

   The market is easy.

Synonyms

• (comfortable): relaxed, relaxing
• (not difficult): light, eath
• (consenting readily to sex): fast
• (requiring little skill or effort): soft, trivial
• See also Thesaurus:easy

Antonyms

• (comfortable, at ease): uneasy, anxious
• (requiring little skill or effort): difficult, hard, uneasy, uneath, challenging

Derived terms

Related terms

• ease

Descendants

• ? Faroese: isi
• ? Finnish: iisi

Translations

Adverb

easy (comparative easier, superlative easiest)

1. In a relaxed or casual manner.

2. In a manner without strictness or harshness.

3. Used an intensifier for large magnitudes.

4. Not difficult, not hard. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• breathe easy

Noun

easy (plural easies)

1. Something that is easy

Verb

easy (third-person singular simple present easies, present participle easying, simple past and past participle easied)

1. (rowing) Synonym of easy-oar

Anagrams

• Ayes, Saye, Seay, ayes, eyas, saye, yaes, yeas

Middle English

Adjective

easy

1. Alternative form of esy

Adverb

easy

1. Alternative form of esy

English

Etymology

From cake +? walk. Originally an African-American form of dance and music that developed after the Civil War, later popularised by minstrel shows. It was danced at social events, with the best dancers often receiving cake as a prize. It derives from dance competitions by plantation slaves in which the style of dance lampooned the ballroom dances of the slaveowners. Slaveowners seem to have found the competitions entertaining and the habit of offering cake may originate from this period. The name is sometimes also applied to the dance's precursor on the plantations. Doing the cakewalk well required virtuosity, and a major esthetic aspect of that virtuosity was the apparent ease with which the dance was performed. This gave rise to the idiom as easy as a cakewalk, which in turn led to the sense of cakewalk as something that is easy.

See the linked Wikipedia article for more.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?ke?k.w?k/

Noun

cakewalk (plural cakewalks)

1. (historical) A contest in which cake was offered for the best dancers.
2. (music) The style of music associated with such a contest.
3. (performing arts) The dance, or strutting style of dance associated with such a contest.
4. (idiomatic) Something that is easy or simple, or that does not present a great challenge.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:easy thing

Verb

cakewalk (third-person singular simple present cakewalks, present participle cakewalking, simple past and past participle cakewalked)

1. (intransitive) To perform the cakewalk dance.

References