simple

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English symple, simple, from Old French and French simple, from Latin simplex (“simple”, literally “onefold”) (as opposed to duplex (“double”, literally “twofold”)), from semel (“the same”) + plicō (“I fold”). See same and fold. Compare single, singular, simultaneous, etc.

Partially displaced native English onefold.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈsɪmpəl/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Audio (UK)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪmpəl
  • Hyphenation: sim‧ple

AdjectiveEdit

simple (comparative simpler or more simple, superlative simplest or most simple)

  1. Uncomplicated; taken by itself, with nothing added.
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 12:
      “[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic? […]”
    • 2001, Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Cambridge University Press →ISBN, page 167,
      There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.
  2. Without ornamentation; plain.
  3. Free from duplicity; guileless, innocent, straightforward.
  4. Undistinguished in social condition; of no special rank.
    Antonym: gentle
  5. (now rare) Trivial; insignificant.
    • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:
      ‘That was a symple cause,’ seyde Sir Trystram, ‘for to sle a good knyght for seyynge well by his maystir.’
  6. (now colloquial) Feeble-minded; foolish.
  7. (heading, technical) Structurally uncomplicated.
    1. (chemistry, pharmacology) Consisting of one single substance; uncompounded.
    2. (mathematics) Of a group: having no normal subgroup.
    3. (botany) Not compound, but possibly lobed.
    4. (of a steam engine) Using steam only once in its cylinders, in contrast to a compound engine, where steam is used more than once in high-pressure and low-pressure cylinders.
      • 1959, Steam's Finest Hour, edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 6:
        Chesapeake & Ohio turned to simple articulateds, for instance, simply because its Alleghany tunnels would not accommodate the low-pressure forward cylinders of larger compounds.
    5. (zoology) Consisting of a single individual or zooid; not compound.
      a simple ascidian
    6. (mineralogy) Homogenous.
  8. (obsolete) Mere; not other than; being only.

SynonymsEdit

AntonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

simple (plural simples)

  1. (pharmacology) A herbal preparation made from one plant, as opposed to something made from more than one plant.
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 37, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
      I know there are some simples, which in operation are moistening and some drying.
    • a. 1700, William Temple, “Of Health and Long-life”, in Miscellanea. The Third Part. [...], London: […] Jonathan Swift, […] Benjamin Tooke, […], published 1701, OCLC 23640974, pages 183–184:
      [W]hat Virtue there is in this Remedy lies in the naked Simple it ſelf, as it comes over from the Indies, and in the Choice of that which is leaſt dried, or periſhed by the Voyage.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, London: The Egoist Press, published October 1922, OCLC 2297483:
      The first fellow that picked an herb to cure himself had a bit of pluck. Simples. Want to be careful.
    • 2003, Dolores Stewart Riccio, Charmed Circle, Kensington Books (→ISBN), page 12:
      The venerable carryall, formerly brimming with all manner of esoteric pamphlets and witch's simples, now overflowed with a cascade of soft toys, juice bottles, tissues, linen books for infants, […]
  2. (obsolete, by extension) A physician.
  3. (logic) A simple or atomic proposition.
  4. (obsolete) Something not mixed or compounded.
  5. (weaving) A drawloom.
  6. (weaving) Part of the apparatus for raising the heddles of a drawloom.
  7. (Roman Catholicism) A feast which is not a double or a semidouble.

TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

simple (third-person singular simple present simples, present participle simpling, simple past and past participle simpled)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To gather simples, i.e. medicinal herbs.

Derived termsEdit

AnagramsEdit

AsturianEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin simplex.

AdjectiveEdit

simple (epicene, plural simples)

  1. simple (uncomplicated)

SynonymsEdit

CatalanEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin simplex.

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

simple (masculine and feminine plural simples)

  1. simple (uncomplicated)
  2. single (not divided into parts)

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

ChavacanoEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Spanish simple (“simple”).

AdjectiveEdit

simple

  1. simple

EsperantoEdit

EtymologyEdit

From simpla +‎ -e.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈsimple/
  • Audio
    		(file)
  • Hyphenation: sim‧ple

AdverbEdit

simple

  1. simply

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French, borrowed from Latin simplex.

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

French numbers (edit)
10
1 2  → 
    Cardinal: un
    Ordinal: premier
    Multiplier: simple

simple (plural simples)

  1. single (multiplier)
    comptabilité en partie simple et double
    single-entry and double-entry bookkeping
    passer du simple au double, du simple au triple...
    to double, triple...
  2. simple
    Un homme simple
    A simple man
  3. one-way
    Un billet simple
    A one-way ticket
  4. mere
    Un simple soldat
    A mere soldier

Usage notesEdit

The second and third meanings are taken when the adjective is placed after the noun. The fourth meaning is taken when it is located before the noun.

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

  • → Romanian: simplu

NounEdit

simple m (plural simples)

  1. one-way ticket
  2. (baseball) single

Related termsEdit

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

GalicianEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin simplex. Displaced Old Portuguese simplez.

AdjectiveEdit

simple m or f (plural simples)

  1. simple

GermanEdit

AdjectiveEdit

simple

  1. inflection of simpel:
    1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
    2. strong nominative/accusative plural
    3. weak nominative all-gender singular
    4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

LatinEdit

AdjectiveEdit

simple

  1. vocative masculine singular of simplus

Middle EnglishEdit

AdjectiveEdit

simple

  1. Alternative form of symple

NounEdit

simple

  1. Alternative form of symple

Norwegian BokmålEdit

AdjectiveEdit

simple

  1. definite singular of simpel
  2. plural of simpel

Norwegian NynorskEdit

AdjectiveEdit

simple

  1. definite singular of simpel
  2. plural of simpel

Old FrenchEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin simplex.

AdjectiveEdit

simple m (oblique and nominative feminine singular simple)

  1. innocent
  2. mere; simple
  3. honest; without pretense
  4. peasant, pauper (attributive)

DescendantsEdit

RomanianEdit

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

simple

  1. feminine/neuter plural nominative/accusative of simplu

SpanishEdit

Spanish numbers (edit)
10
1 2  → 
    Cardinal: uno
    Ordinal: primero
    Multiplier: simple

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin simplex.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈsimple/, [ˈsĩm.ple]

AdjectiveEdit

simple (plural simples)

  1. simple (uncomplicated)
    Synonym: sencillo
    Antonym: complejo
  2. (before the noun) mere, ordinary
    Synonym: mero
    Soy un simple pescador. ― I'm just a fisherman.
  3. simple, single (not divided into parts)
    Antonym: compuesto
  4. simple-minded, stupid
  5. insipid, flavorless
    Synonym: soso
  6. (grammar) simple

Usage notesEdit

A way to think of the difference between simple and sencillo, which both mean "simple" in English, is that the antonym of simple is complejo (“complex”), whereas the antonym of sencillo is complicado (“complicated”).

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

NounEdit

simple m or f (plural simples)

  1. simpleton, fool
  2. (pharmacology, masculine only) simple

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

SwedishEdit

AdjectiveEdit

simple

  1. absolute definite natural masculine form of simpel.

AnagramsEdit

TagalogEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Spanish simple.

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

símple

  1. simple; plain
    Synonyms: payak, yano, liso
    • 1994, Al O. Santiago, Sining ng pagsasaling-wika: sa Filipino mula sa Ingles‎[1], →ISBN:
      Simpleng-simple rin ang aklat na ito kung ihahambing sa aklat ni Mildred Larson.
      This book is also very simple compared to the book of Mildred Larson.
    • 2002, Yaman Ng Pagkatao i Tm' 2002 Ed.‎[2], Rex Bookstore, Inc., →ISBN, page 173:
      Ang boluntaryong pagpili ng simpleng pamumuhay ay isang desisyong maaari nating maisakatuparan.
      The voluntary choice of a simple life is a decision that we can carry out.
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