English - Etymology

From Middle English simple, from Old French and French simple, from Latin simplex (“simple, literally 'onefold', as opposed to duplex, twofold, double”), from sim- (“the same”) + plicare (“to fold”): see same and fold. Compare single, singular, simultaneous, etc.

English - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪmpəl/
• Rhymes: -ɪmpəl
• Hyphenation: sim‧ple

English - Adjective

simple (comparative simpler, superlative simplest)

1. Uncomplicated; taken by itself, with nothing added.
   • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:

     “[…] 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 0-521-78512-X), 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.
   • John Marston (ca.1576-1634)

     Full many fine men go upon my score, as simple as I stand here, and I trust them.

   • Lord Byron (1788-1824)

     Must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue?

   • Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

     To be simple is to be great.

4. Undistinguished in social condition; of no special rank.
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) Consisting of one single substance; uncompounded.
   2. (mathematics) Of a group: having no normal subgroup.
   3. (botany) Not compound, but possibly lobed.
   4. (zoology) Consisting of a single individual or zooid; not compound.

      a simple ascidian

   5. (mineralogy) Homogenous.
8. (obsolete) Mere; not other than; being only.
   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     A medicine […] whose simple touch / Is powerful to araise King Pepin.

Synonyms

• (consisting of a single part or aspect): onefold
• (having few parts or features): plain
• See also Wikisaurus:easy

Antonyms

• (having few parts or features): complex, compound, complicated
• (uncomplicated): subtle

Derived terms

Translations

English - Noun

simple (plural simples)

1. (medicine) A preparation made from one plant, as opposed to something made from more than one plant.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.37:

     I know there are some simples, which in operation are moistening and some drying.

   • Sir W. Temple

     What virtue is in this remedy lies in the naked simple itself as it comes over from the Indies.

2. (obsolete) A term for a physician, derived from the medicinal term above.
3. (logic) A simple or atomic proposition.
4. (obsolete) Something not mixed or compounded.
   • Shakespeare

     compounded of many simples

5. (weaving) A drawloom.
6. (weaving) Part of the apparatus for raising the heddles of a drawloom.
7. (Roman Catholic) A feast which is not a double or a semidouble.

Translations

English - Verb

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

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

Derived terms

• simpler
• simplist
• simplify

English - Anagrams

• impels

Asturian - Adjective

simple (epicene, plural simples)

1. simple (uncomplicated)

Synonyms

• cenciellu

Catalan - Etymology

From Latin simplex.

Catalan - Pronunciation

• (Eastern Catalan) IPA^(key): [ˈsimpɫə]
• (Western Catalan) IPA^(key): [ˈsimpɫe]

Catalan - Adjective

simple m, f (masculine and feminine plural simples)

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

Synonyms

• senzill

Derived terms

• fulla simple (“simple leaf”)
• simplement (“simply”)

Related terms

• símplex (“simplex”)
• simplicitat (“simplicity”)
• ximple

Esperanto - Etymology

simpl- + -e

Esperanto - Pronunciation

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

Esperanto - Adverb

simple

1. simply

French - Etymology

From Old French, borrowed from Latin simplex.

French - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛ̃pl/

French - Adjective

simple (masculine and feminine, plural simples)

1. simple
2. one-way

   Un billet simple.

   A one-way ticket.

French - Noun

simple m (plural simples)

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

Related terms

• aller simple
• simplement
• simplicité
• simplifier

French - Anagrams

• emplis

French - External Links

• “simple” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Galician - Adjective

simple m, f (plural simples)

1. simple

Latin - Adjective

simple

1. vocative masculine singular of simplus

Old French - Alternative Forms

• sinple

Old French - Etymology

Borrowed from Latin simplex.

Old French - Adjective

simple m, f (plural simples)

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

Descendants

• English: simple
• French: simple

Romanian - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsim.ple]

Romanian - Adjective

simple

1. feminine plural nominative form of simplu
2. feminine plural accusative form of simplu
3. neuter plural nominative form of simplu
4. neuter plural accusative form of simplu

Spanish - Adjective

simple m, f (plural simples)

1. simple
2. mere, uncomplicated, easy
3. single
4. insipid

Antonyms

• (simple): complejo
• (uncomplicated): complicado

Spanish - Noun

simple m, f (plural simples)

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

Swedish - Adjective

simple

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of simpel.

قافية