Where does “difficultly” come from?
Difficultly comes from Middle English -ly, Old English -līċ, Proto-Germanic -līkaz, and Latin difficilis, formed from dis- meaning "not" and difficul meaning "hard to manage."
difficultly (English): With difficulty; not easily
Definitions
- With difficulty; not easily
Ancestry of “difficultly”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | difficult | Hard, not easy, requiring much effort; Hard to... |
| 2 | Middle English | difficult | difficult, challenging |
| 3 | Middle English | difficulte | Difficulty; the state of being difficult |
| 4 | Middle French | difficulté | difficulty |
| 5 | Old French | difficulté | difficulty |
| 6 | Latin | difficultas | difficulty, distress, trouble, hardship |
| 7 | Latin | difficilis | difficult, hard, troublesome; obstinate,... |
| 8 | Latin | facilis | that may or can be done or made; easy, facile |
| 9 | Latin | faciō | to do |
| 10 | Latin | -torium | nominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative... |
| 11 | Latin | -tōrius | ory |
| 12 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 13 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | Forms agent nouns to verb stems |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |