difficulty English · revision 5945

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1380|origins=la difficultas}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈdɪf.ɪ.kəl.ti/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|xno|difficulté]], Old French difficulté, and directly [[bor|la|difficultās|t=difficulty, distress, poverty]] (accusative difficultatem),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002) from [[m|la|difficilis|t=hard]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from dis- “not, away from” (see [[dis-]]) and facilis “easy to do” (see [[facile]]),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from facere “to do”, from the PIE root [[ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-|alt=*dhe-|t=to set, put]].^(Etymonline) MWU and the NODE note the influence of [[m|la|facultās|t=ability]] (see [[faculty]]) on the form.^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The quality of being hard to do or understand: 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius, in Barnhart; 1382 in the OED.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) Something hard to understand, a perplexing point, is from about 1385.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Reluctance or objection, as in ''to make a difficulty'', is from 1513,^(OED 1989) and obscurity of meaning from 1529.^(OED 1989) A thing hard to do or overcome is from the 1610s, before 1619 in the OED,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and an embarrassment of affairs, especially of money, from 1705.^(OED 1989) ''Difficult'' is a back-formation from difficulty, before 1400.^(Barnhart 1988) In north Lincolnshire a difficulty was a quarrel.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1380 – the quality of being hard, in Chaucer.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1385 – a perplexing point.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1400 – ''difficult''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1513 – objection, reluctance.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1610s – a thing that is hard to do.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1705 – an embarrassment of affairs.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The quality of being hard to do, deal with or understand.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Something hard to do, solve or overcome; an [[obstacle]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(often plural)'' A troublesome situation, especially a [[financial]] one.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A disagreement or objection.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[difficile]]

+ * [[difficult]]

+ * [[facile]]

+ * [[faculty]]

+ * [[facility]]

+ * [[fact]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The AHD groups difficulty with hardship, rigor and vicissitude, all meaning something that takes great effort to overcome.^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}