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.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
     , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.185:

     […] forasmuch as he was to judge of an internall beauty, of a difficile knowledge, and abstruse discovery.

Derived terms

• difficileness

Translations

hard to work with, stubborn

• Portuguese: difícil (pt) m
• Russian: несгово́рчивый (ru) m (nesgovórčivyj)

French

Etymology

From Middle French difficil(e) (14th c.), a borrowing from Latin difficilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.fi.sil/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): [d͡zifɪsɪl], [d͡zɪfɪsɪl], [d͡zɪfsɪl] (Quebec)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• 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 difficile ― criticism comes easy, but art is difficult

2. choosy, fussy, picky

   être difficile ― to be difficult

   faire le difficile ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

• difficilement
• difficulté

Descendants

• Antillean Creole: difisil
• Haitian Creole: difisil

Further reading

• “difficile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /difˈfi.tsi.le/

Adjective

difficile (comparative plus difficile, superlative le plus difficile)

1. difficult

Antonyms

• facile

Italian

Etymology

From Latin difficilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /difˈfi.t͡ʃi.le/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -itʃile
• Hyphenation: dif‧fì‧ci‧le

Adjective

difficile m or f by sense (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

Related terms

• difficilmente
• difficoltà

Latin

Etymology 1

Neuter accusative of difficilis.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [dɪfˈfɪ.kɪ.ɫɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [difˈfiː.t͡ʃi.le]

Adverb

difficile (comparative difficilius, superlative difficillimē)

1. with difficulty

   Synonyms: difficiliter, difficulter

   Antonyms: faciliter, facile

Related terms

• difficilis
• difficiliter
• difficilius
• difficillimus
• difficultās
• difficulter

Etymology 2

Inflected form of difficilis (“difficult, troublesome”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [dɪfˈfɪ.kɪ.ɫɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [difˈfiː.t͡ʃi.le]

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

Alternative forms

• difficil

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

• difficilement (“difficultly, with difficulty”)

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)