易

Stroke order

易 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 日心竹竹 (APHH), four-corner 6022₇, composition ⿱日勿)

• 㑥, 埸, 㛫, 惕, 掦, 晹, 焬, 㻛, 睗, 裼, 緆(𰬣), 舓, 蜴, 𧩎, 賜(赐), 踢, 錫(锡), 䯜, 鯣, 𪎥
• 逷, 䞶, 剔, 𢒗, 敡, 鶍, 䓪, 鬄, 痬, 𪎧, 惖

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 492, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13814
• Dae Jaweon: page 854, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1494, character 1
• Unihan data for U+6613

• Unihan data for U+F9E0

Historical forms of the character 易
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions: a pictogram (象形) of a filled container, the original form of 賜 (OC *sleːɡs, “to confer, to bestow”). Possibly specialised from 益 (OC *qleɡ, “to increase, to add”). Perhaps borrowed phonetically to mean "easy".

The character is not the pictogram of a chameleon, as folk etymology says. Unrelated to 陽 since it doesn't represent the sun.

From 移 (OC *lal, “to change; to alter”) + k-extension (Schuessler, 2007). The meaning of "change, alter" is linked to "give, bestow" since something given by somebody to somebody else "changes" its owner.

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

易

1. ^† Original form of 賜／赐 (cì, “to give; to bestow”).
2. to exchange; to interchange
3. to change; to alter; to modify
4. Short for 易經／易经 (Yìjīng, “I Ching”).
5. a surname

• → Thai: แลก (lɛ̂ɛk)

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *lwa(ː)j (“easy”). Cognate with Burmese လွယ် (lwai, “easy”).

易

1. easy; simple; not difficult

   Antonym: 難／难

2. gentle; kind
3. effortless; prone to
4. easily; effortlessly

• → Vietnamese: dễ

Possibly from 慧 (OC *ɡʷeːds) (Li Ru-long, 2002).

易

1. (Min) easy; not difficult

• “易”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: い (i, Jōyō)、やく (yaku)
• Kan-on: い (i, Jōyō)、えき (eki, Jōyō)
• Kun: おさめる (osameru, 易める)、やさしい (yasashii, 易しい, Jōyō)、かえる (kaeru, 易える)

From Middle Chinese 易 (MC yek).

The kan'on, so likely a later borrowing.

• (Tokyo) えき [èkí] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [e̞kʲi]

易(えき) • (eki) 

1. divination; fortune-telling

• 卜(うらない) (uranai)
• 占(うら) (ura)
• 卜占(ぼくせん) (bokusen)

易(えき) • (Eki) 

1. Short for 易経 (Ekikyō, “I Ching (Chinese classic text)”).

易(えき) • (eki) 

1. exchange
2. divination; fortune-telling

From Middle Chinese 易 (MC yeH).

• (Tokyo) い [íꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [i]

易(い) • (i) 

1. something easy to do; easiness

易(い) • (i) 

1. easy; simple

From Middle Chinese 易 (MC yek).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [jʌ̹k̚]
• Phonetic hangul: [역]

 

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

易

Wikisource

易 (eumhun 바꿀 역 (bakkul yeok))

1. hanja form^? of 역 (“change; alteration; modification”)

From Middle Chinese 易 (MC yeH).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [i(ː)]
• Phonetic hangul: [이(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

易 (eumhun 쉬울 이 (swiul i))

1. hanja form^? of 이 (“easy”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [4]

易: Hán Nôm readings: dịch, dể, dễ, di, diệc, dẻ, dẹ, dị, dịu, rẻ, rể

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.