English
easily
Easily comes from Middle English esiliche, equivalent to easy + -ly.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500esiliche‘with ease, comfortably’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590easily
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500esiliche‘with ease, comfortably’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590easily
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XI: “Eftsoones she causd him vp to be conuayd, /…”
Linked words
through Middle English ese
through Middle English esy ‘Comfortable, pleasant’
Today it means
adv Comfortably, without discomfort or anxiety.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English esiliche / easily