Gemakkelijks

Gemakkelijks is a term found in some historical Dutch texts and regional dialects, derived from gemakkelijk meaning easy. In modern standard Dutch, the common comparative and superlative forms are gemakkelijke, gemakkelijker, and gemakkelijkst, and the attributive noun form is typically rendered as het gemakkelijke or simply the easiest thing. Gemakkelijks, by contrast, appears mainly as a historical or dialectal form and is not part of contemporary standard usage.

Etymology and form: the word is built from gemakkelijk with a suffix that in older Dutch can mark a nominalized or definite noun phrase. In sources that preserve older spellings or dialectic variation, gemakkelijks can function as a noun or fixed epithet within a definite phrase, sometimes glossed as “the easiest (thing)”.

Attestation and scope: gemakkelijks is sparsely attested and is most often described by linguistic and dialectological works as archaic or regional. It is occasionally encountered in early modern Dutch writings or in Brabantian and Flemish dialect dictionaries, where it reflects historical patterns of adjective-noun formation that differ from today’s standard Dutch.

Usage and interpretation: when it does appear, gemakkelijks is typically interpreted as an archaic or dialectal nominal form meaning “the easiest thing” or “the easiest way.” In everyday contemporary Dutch, speakers would normally use het gemakkelijke or the comparative and superlative forms gemakkelijker and gemakkelijkst, or rephrase with gemakkelijk op de manier die het meest simpel is.

See also: gemakkelijk, gemakkelijke, gemakkelijker, gemakkelijkst, archaic Dutch, Dutch dialects.