different between easy vs certain

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

Alternative forms

• certaine (obsolete)
• certeine (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English certeyn, certein, certain, borrowed from Old French certain, from a Vulgar Latin unattested form *cert?nus, extended form of Latin certus (“fixed, resolved, certain”), of the same origin as cretus, past participle of cernere (“to separate, perceive, decide”). Displaced native Middle English wis, iwis (“certain, sure”) (from Old English ?ewiss (“certain, sure”)) and alternative Middle English spelling sertane (“some, certain”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??tn?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?tn?/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?s?t?n/, /?s?tn?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t?n
• Hyphenation: cer?tain

Adjective

certain (comparative more certain, superlative most certain)

1. Sure, positive, not doubting.

   I was certain of my decision.

   Spain is now certain of a place in the finals.

2. (obsolete) Determined; resolved.
3. Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
4. Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.

   Bankruptcy is the certain outcome of your constant gambling and lending.
5. Unfailing; infallible.
   • 1702, Richard Mead, Mechanical Account of Poisons
6. I have often wished , that I knew so certain a remedy in any other disease
7. Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.

   • The people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day.

8. Known but not specifically named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or some; sometimes used independently as a noun, and meaning certain persons; see also "one".

   • It came to pass when he was in a certain city.

Synonyms

• (not doubting): See also Thesaurus:certain
• (sure to happen): unavoidable; See also Thesaurus:inevitable

Antonyms

• (not doubting): uncertain
• (sure to happen): impossible, incidental
• (known but not named): particular specific

Derived terms

• certainly (adv)

Related terms

• certainty (n)

Translations

Determiner

certain

1. Having been determined but not specified. The quality of some particular subject or object which is known by the speaker to have been specifically singled out among similar entities of its class.

Translations

Pronoun

certain

1. (with of) Unnamed or undescribed members (of).

   She mentioned a series of contracts, of which certain are not cited

   • 1611, Bible (King James Version), Acts xxiii. 12

     Certain of the Jews banded together.

Synonyms

• (unnamed or undescribed members (of)): some

Noun

certain pl (plural only)

1. (with "the") Something certain.

Further reading

• certain at OneLook Dictionary Search
• certain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• certain in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Cretian, ant rice, anticer, cantier, ceratin, citrean, creatin, crinate, nacrite, tacrine, tercian

French

Etymology

From Old French certain, from Vulgar Latin unattested form *cert?nus, extended form of Latin certus (“fixed, resolved, certain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??.t??/

Adjective

certain (feminine singular certaine, masculine plural certains, feminine plural certaines)

1. certain (sure, positive)

   Il est certain qu'il viendra.

   It is certain that he will arrive.

2. certain (fixed, determined)
3. certain (specified, particular)

Derived terms

Noun

certain m (plural certains)

1. certain; certainty

Determiner

certain

1. certain: a determined but unspecified amount of ; some

   Certaines personnes vont aller.

   Some people are going.

Related terms

• certainement
• certitude
• incertain

Further reading

• “certain” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• carient, centrai, cernait, crainte, criante, écriant, encirât, encrait

Old French

Alternative forms

• (Picard dialect) chertain

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *cert?nus, from Latin certus. Compare Old Italian and Old Spanish certano.

Adjective

certain m (oblique and nominative feminine singular certaine)

1. certain; sure

Declension

Synonyms

• seur

Related terms

• cert

Descendants

• ? Middle English: certeyn
  • English: certain
• French: certain