difficile

English

Etymology

From late Old French difficile, from Latin difficilis, from dis- + facilis (easy).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɪ.fɪ.saɪl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɪ.fə.səl/
  • Hyphenation: dif‧fi‧cile

Adjective

difficile (comparative more difficile, superlative most difficile) (obsolete)

  1. Hard to work with; stubborn.
  2. Difficult.

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French difficile, from Latin difficilis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /di.fi.sil/
  • Audio (France):(file)
  • IPA(key): [d͡zifɪsɪl], [d͡zɪfɪsɪl], [d͡zɪfsɪl] (Quebec)
  • Hyphenation: dif‧fi‧cile

Adjective

difficile (plural difficiles)

  1. difficult
    Synonym: ardu
    Antonym: facile
    Near-synonym: compliqué
    la critique est aisée mais l’art est difficilecriticism comes easy, but art is difficult
  2. choosy, fussy, picky
    être difficileto be difficult
    faire le difficile(please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

Further reading

Interlingua

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /difˈfi.tsi.le/

Adjective

difficile (comparative plus difficile, superlative le plus difficile)

  1. difficult

Antonyms

Italian

Etymology

From Latin difficilis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /difˈfi.t͡ʃi.le/[1]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -itʃile
  • Hyphenation: dif‧fì‧ci‧le

Adjective

difficile m or f (plural difficili, superlative difficilissimo)

  1. difficult, hard
    Antonym: facile

Noun

difficile m or f by sense (plural difficili)

  1. person who is intractable or hard to please
    • 2012, John Green, translated by Giorgia Grilli, Colpa delle Stelle [The Fault in our Stars], Mondadori, page 36:
      Mi divertivo a fare la difficile.
      I enjoyed being coy.
      (literally, “I enjoyed being a hard-to-please person.”)

Noun

difficile m (plural difficili)

  1. difficult time or moment
    il difficile ormai è superato
    the hard time is now over

References

  1. ^ difficile in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Latin

Etymology 1

From difficilis (difficult, troublesome) +‎ .

Pronunciation

Adverb

difficilē (comparative difficilius, superlative difficilissimē)

  1. with difficulty
Synonyms
Antonyms

Etymology 2

Inflected form of difficilis (difficult, troublesome).

Pronunciation

Adjective

difficile

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of difficilis

References

  • difficile”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • difficile in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle French

Adjective

difficile m or f (plural difficiles)

  1. difficult

Norman

Etymology

From Old French difficile, from Latin difficilis.

Adjective

difficile m or f

  1. (Jersey, Guernsey) difficult

Derived terms

Old French

Alternative forms

  • difficil (masculine oblique singular)

Adjective

difficile m (oblique and nominative feminine singular difficile)

  1. difficult

Descendants

  • French: difficile
  • Norman: difficile (Jersey, Guernsey)