facile French · revision 17273

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1441, Livre de la vie active|origins=la faciō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fa.sil/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''facile''' (plural faciles)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|facilis|t=easily done; doing easily; good-natured]], from [[m|la|faciō|t=to do, make]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|3, 358b) Wiktionary thinks the borrowing was probably helped by [[it|facile]].^(Wiktionary) Littré notes that the word is recent and modelled on the Latin; had it existed in the old language it would have been “fele”, as [[frêle]] comes from [[m|la|fragilis]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded in 1441, in the ''Livre de la vie active'' of the Hôtel-Dieu of Paris, of something whose execution meets no obstacle.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was applied to people in 1559 (Amyot: ''facile à pardonner''), meaning accommodating, good-natured; from complaisance came the sense “weak, without character”, still current in classical French, and, from that the use of a woman who readily consents to sex (1761, the ''Encyclopédie'').^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(BHVF) Régnier (1613) uses it for a writer who produces without effort, and, from 1680 it describes work that seems done with ease, often pejoratively: ''une plaisanterie facile''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) The adverb [[facilement]] dates from about 1450; in mid-20th-century speech ''facile'' itself became an adverb, ''il a cinquante ans facile'', and the slang [[fastoche]] was formed from it.^(DHLF 1992)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1441 – First record.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1450 – ''Facilement''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1559 – Of a person, “easy to deal with”, Amyot.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1613 – Of a writer who produces with ease, Régnier.^(TLFi)

+ * 1761 – Of a woman, “easy”, the ''Encyclopédie''.^(BHVF)

+ * Mid-20th century – Adverbial ''facile'' “easily, at least”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|easy]], simple: ''un travail facile'', ''facile comme bonjour''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Easy to (do): ''facile à entretenir''.^(Larousse)

+ # ''(pejorative)'' [[m|en|facile]], requiring no effort or thought: ''une plaisanterie facile''.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Easy-going, easy to live with: ''un enfant facile'', ''avoir le caractère facile''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(derogatory)'' Of a woman: easy, [[m|en|promiscuous]].^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(familiar)'' Easily; at least: ''elle a cinquante ans facile''.^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[facilement]]

+ * [[fastoche]]

+ * [[facilité]]

+ * [[faciliter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[faire]]

+ * [[difficile]]

+ * [[la|facilis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}