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Origin and history of difficult

difficult(adj.)

c. 1400, "not easy, requiring or dependent on effort; troublesome, arduous," apparently an unetymological back-formation from difficulty. French has difficile, Latin difficilis. Of persons, "hard to please," from 1580s. Related: Difficultly.

difficult

also from c. 1400

Entries linking to difficult

difficulty(n.)

late 14c., "want of easiness, that quality which makes something laborious or perplexing," from Anglo-French difficulté and directly from Latin difficultatem (nominative difficultas) "difficulty, distress, poverty," from difficilis "hard," from dis- "not, away from" (see dis-) + facilis "easy to do," from facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). From 1610s as "that which is difficult." Related: Difficulties.

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    easy
    c. 1200, "at ease, having ease, free from bodily discomfort and anxiety," from Old French aisie "comfortable, at ease, rich, well-off" (Modern French aisé), past participle of aisier "to put at ease," from aise (see ease (n.)). Sense of "not difficult, requiring no great labor or
    hard
    Old English heard "solid and firm, not soft," also, "difficult to endure, carried on with great exertion," also, of persons, "severe, rigorous, harsh, cruel," from Proto-Germanic *hardu- (source also of Old Saxon hard, Old Frisian herd, Dutch hard, Old Norse harðr "hard," Old Hig
    arduous
    1530s, "hard to accomplish, difficult to do, attended with much labor," from Latin arduus "high, steep," also figuratively..., "difficult, hard to reach" (from PIE root *eredh- "high;" for which see ortho-)....The literal sense of "high, steep, difficult to climb" is attested in English from 1709....
    ill
    c. 1200, "morally evil; offensive, objectionable" (other 13c. senses were "malevolent, hurtful, unfortunate, difficult"),...from Old Norse illr "evil, bad; hard, difficult; mean, stingy," a word of unknown origin....
    dyspeptic
    pertaining to dyspepsia;" by 1822 as "suffering from dyspepsia;" from Greek dyspeptos "hard to digest," from dys- "bad, difficult...
    decollation
    In modern use, in surgery, "removal of the head of the child in cases of difficult birth."...
    froward
    12c., froward, fraward "turned against, perverse, disobedient; peevish, petulant; adverse, difficult," as a preposition,...
    curious
    mid-14c., "subtle, sophisticated;" late 14c., "eager to know, inquisitive, desirous of seeing" (often in a bad sense), also "wrought with or requiring care and art;" from Old French curios "solicitous, anxious, inquisitive; odd, strange" (Modern French curieux) and directly from
    amen
    Old English, from Late Latin amen, from Ecclesiastical Greek amen, from Hebrew amen "truth," used adverbially as an expression of agreement (as in Deuteronomy xxvii.26, I Kings i.36), from Semitic root a-m-n "to be trustworthy, confirm, support." Compare similar use of Modern Eng
    skinflint
    "miser, one who makes use of contemptible economy to keep money," c. 1700 ("Dictionary of the Canting Crew"), slang ; literally "kind of person who would skin a flint to save or gain something," from skin (v.) + flint. Flay-flint in same sense is from 1670s. Among the 18c. slang

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