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