Where does “difficulties” come from?
difficulties (English) comes from English difficulty, from Middle English difficulte, from Middle French difficulté, from Old French difficulté, from Latin difficultas, from Latin difficilis, from Latin facilis, from Latin faciō.
difficulties (English): plural of difficulty; API pl; a series of...
Definitions
- plural of difficulty; API pl; a series of...
Ancestry of “difficulties”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | difficulty | The state of being difficult, or hard to do; An... |
| 2 | Middle English | difficulte | Difficulty; the state of being difficult |
| 3 | Middle French | difficulté | difficulty |
| 4 | Old French | difficulté | difficulty |
| 5 | Latin | difficultas | difficulty, distress, trouble, hardship |
| 6 | Latin | difficilis | difficult, hard, troublesome; obstinate,... |
| 7 | Latin | facilis | that may or can be done or made; easy, facile |
| 8 | Latin | faciō | to do |
| 9 | Latin | -torium | nominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative... |
| 10 | Latin | -tōrius | ory |
| 11 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 12 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | Forms agent nouns to verb stems |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |