sencillo

Forms

sencillo (feminine sencilla, masculine plural sencillos, feminine plural sencillas, superlative sencillísimo)^[1] Old Spanish had senziello, senciello, sensiello and ssenziello, with the later sensillo and çensillo.^[2] Asturian has cenciello and, in Lena, cincietso; the Leonese of Babia has senciexo.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish senziello, inherited from Vulgar Latin *singellus, a diminutive of Latin singulus (“one at a time; single”).^[4][5][1] The Vulgar Latin form is not recorded, but a variant singillus underlies classical singillatim (“singly, one by one”) and Late Latin singillarius (“unique”).^[4] The plural of the Latin adjective, in the sense “one each”, gave sendos (1219), and its derivative singularius gave señero “solitary” (c. 1140); singular is a learned borrowing.^[4]

The same Vulgar Latin word is Portuguese singelo and Asturian cenciellu.^[1][6] Catalan senzill, however, is a borrowing from Spanish, as its voiced ⟨z⟩ shows.^[7] The REW also lists a Portuguese plural sincelos (“icicles”).^[8] Cunha dates the Portuguese word to the 16th century, Houaiss to the 14th.^[6][9]

The origin of the Latin adjective is uncertain;^[1] Wiktionary gives theories that derive it from *sem- (“one”) with a further suffix.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the word to about 1250, and the DEMel's earliest records are in the Libro de Alexandre.^[4][2] In Alfonso X's Libro de acedrex (1283) it describes squares of a board game: si las fallaren uazias o senziellas “if they find them empty or single”, that is, not doubled.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 calls sencillo what is simple and has no fold or doubleness, and says it is used of a plain man who speaks the truth, like Latin simplex.^[11] The Autoridades defines it as what has no mixture, and as what has less body than usual, as silk taffeta; by extension it means “simple, easily deceived”; it derived the word from simplex.^[12] Salvá (1846) adds flowers, the single ones as against the double.^[13] The Academy's 1899 dictionary has the sense “plain, natural” of style.^[14]

Used of coins, sencillo meant the smaller of two coins with the same name: Mexico City records reales sencillos in 1545.^[15][5] Cervantes has ocho reales en senzillos in the Quijote.^[16] Hence in most of Latin America sencillo is small change.^[17][18] Newer senses are the single record and, in the Caribbean, the single in baseball.^[5][17] The word was borrowed into Cebuano and Central Bikol as sensilyo.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – first record, in the Libro de Alexandre.^[4][2]
• 1283 – Alfonso X's Libro de acedrex has senziellas “single”.^[10]
• 1490 – first record of sencillez.^[4]
• 1545 – reales sencillos and tafetán senzillo in Mexico City and Puebla.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains it as “simple, without doubleness”.^[11]
• 1726–1739 – the Autoridades defines “without mixture”, “thin” of fabrics and “easily deceived”.^[12]
• 1846 – Salvá records it of single flowers.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy records it of style.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. easy, presenting no difficulty: un ejercicio sencillo.^[5]
2. simple, without artifice or composition; made of one element, not compound.^[5][19]
3. Of a thing: having less body than others of its kind, thin, as tafetán sencillo.^[5]
4. plain, without show or ornament: Llevaba un traje muy sencillo.^[5]
5. Of style: unadorned, expressing ideas naturally.^[5]
6. Of a person: natural, unaffected, modest in manner.^[5]
7. naive, easily deceived.^[5]
8. Candid and guileless, saying what one feels.^[5]
9. Of a coin: smaller than another of the same name and higher value: real sencillo.^[5]
10. (chemistry) Of a bond: covalent, with one shared pair of electrons.^[5]

Noun

1. (music) A single, a short record with one or two tracks on each side.^[5][1]
2. (Latin America) Small change, loose coins.^[5][17]
3. (baseball, Caribbean) A single, a hit that takes the batter to first base.^[17][20]
4. (Mexico) A one-way ticket.^[17]
5. (Puerto Rico) A ham and cheese sandwich.^[17][21]

Word family

• sencillez
• sencillamente

Related words

• sendos
• señero
• singular
• Latin singulus
• Portuguese singelo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. sencillo
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6146
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sencillo
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. sencillo
6. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3107
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. senzill
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. singelo
10. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. sencillo
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1292
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 78
13. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 989
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 907
15. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. sencillo
16. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. s.v. sencillo
17. ^ a b c d e f Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. sencillo
18. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 78
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sencillo
20. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. sencillo
21. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. sencillo