uneasy

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + easy,^[2][3][4] first as unesi about 1300.^[4][5][6] Easy is from Old French aisie (“comfortable, at ease”), the past participle of aisier (“to put at ease”), from aise, the source of ease.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Uncomfortable, causing physical discomfort: about 1290, in the life of Thomas Becket in the South English Legendary, where a pair of breeches is said to be uncomfortable to ride in.^[2][5] Etymonline glosses the earliest use as "not comforting, causing trouble".^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word described uncomfortable clothes, harsh weather, a horse's rough gait and oppressive rulers.^[4][5] From before 1387, in Trevisa, it was used of troublesome or disagreeable people, a sense obsolete after 1737,^[2] and since 1398 it meant difficult or hard, a use common in the 17th century and now rare.^[2][6] Trench pointed out that the word had lost the sense "difficult" and come to mean restless or anxious, though the older sense survives in the Bible and in Shakespeare's Tempest: "this swift business I must uneasy make".^[7] Etymonline dates the sense "disturbed in mind" to about 1400,^[4] the OED, anxious or apprehensive, to 1680.^[2] Johnson (1755) put "painful; giving disturbance" first.^[8] The adverbial use survives in uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, from 1596.^[6] In Irish and Devon dialect uneasy still meant difficult around 1900.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – causing physical discomfort.^[2][5]
• before 1387 – of persons, troublesome, disagreeable (obsolete by 1737).^[2]
• 1398 – difficult, hard.^[2]
• before 1513 – showing a lack of ease in body or mind.^[2]
• 1596 – adverb, in uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.^[6]
• 1680 – anxious, apprehensive.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Worried or anxious; not at ease in mind: She felt uneasy about leaving the children alone.^[10][11][2]
2. Awkward or constrained in manner: an uneasy laugh.^[11][2]
3. Unsettled or precarious; offering no reassurance: an uneasy ceasefire.^[10][11]
4. Disturbing or disquieting.^[10]
5. Not allowing rest or comfort: an uneasy night.^[11][2]
6. (archaic) Not easy; difficult.^[6][2][7]
7. (obsolete, 1387–1737) Of a person, troublesome or disagreeable to others.^[2][6]

Word family

• unease
• uneasily
• uneasiness

Related words

• easy
• ease
• disease

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin