hawdd

hawdd

Welsh

Etymology

From Middle Welsh hawð, from Proto-Brythonic *họð, from Proto-Celtic *sādos (compare Old Irish asse (“easy”) from *ad-sādo-syos).[1] Once thought to be from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus,[2] and so cognate to Latin suavis, Ancient Greek ἡδύς (hēdús), and English sweet, but this analysis has both phonological and semantic difficulties.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hau̯ð/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

hawdd (feminine singular hawdd, plural hawdd, equative hawsed or hawdded, comparative haws or hawsach or hawddach, superlative hawsaf or hawddaf, not mutable)

1. easy

   Mi wnaeth y tîm ennill yn hawdd ddoe.

   The team won easily yesterday.

   Synonym: rhwydd

   Antonyms: anodd, caled

Derived terms

• anodd

References

1. Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 318
2. Morris Jones, John (1913) A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative, Oxford: Clarendon Press, § 148 i 6

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “hawdd”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies