simples
English
WOTD – 6 October 2026
Etymology
Etymology tree
From simple (interjection) + -s (hypocoristic suffix). The word was popularized as the catchphrase of a meerkat character in a 2009 advertising campaign for the British price comparison website Compare the Market.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɪmplz/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɪmpəlz/
Audio (General American): (file) Audio (Australia): (file) - Hyphenation: sim‧ples
Interjection
simples
- (UK, humorous, informal) Used to indicate that something is easy to do or to understand; easy!, simple!
- 2013 August 4, Matthew Bell, “It’s a very good 17 days to bury bad news”, in The Independent[4], London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 June 2023:
- Controversial plans to replace appointed peers with elected senators, longed for by the Lib Dems, were seemingly given a new berth among the leftovers of Sam Cam [Samantha Cameron]'s veg box. Simples!
- 2016 July 4, John Crace, “Up really is down on Mummy [Andrea] Leadsom’s amazing journey”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian[5], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 June 2023:
- Most things will go through on the nod. Simples. Everything will be fixed by Christmas.
- 2019 February 26, Theresa May, “Leaving the European Union”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom)[6], volume 655, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 16 January 2026, column 173:
- Finally, the right hon. Gentleman [Ian Blackford] talked about uncertainty: the uncertainty of not having the arrangements in place. If he wants to end uncertainty and if he wants to deal with the issues he raised in his response to my statement, then he should vote for a deal—simples.
- 2022 September 21, Christian Wolmar, “Trevelyan Must ‘Give a Damn’ and Engage with the Railway”, in Rail, number 966, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 45:
- So, here's a bit of advice that I am sure she [Anne-Marie Trevelyan] will not take: simply redeploy the lot of them, merge Network Rail with the train operators, call it British Railways, give it a set budget, and then let Andrew Haines and his colleagues get on with it. Simples.
Translations
used to indicate that something is easy to do or to understand — see simple
Noun
simples
- plural of simple.
Verb
simples
- third-person singular simple present indicative of simple.
References
- ^ “simples, interj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2026; “simples, excl.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Asturian
Adjective
simples
- plural of simple
Catalan
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [ˈsim.pləs]
- IPA(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈsim.ples]
Adjective
simples
- plural of simple
French
Pronunciation
Adjective
simples
- plural of simple
Noun
simples m
- plural of simple
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
simples
- strong/mixed nominative/accusative neuter singular of simpel
Mirandese
Adjective
simples m pl or f pl
- plural of simple
Portuguese
Etymology
Etymology tree
Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese simplez, from Latin simplex.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈsĩ.plis/
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /ˈsĩ.pliʃ/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈsĩ.plɨʃ/
Adjective
simples (invariable)
- simple
- Synonym: singelo
- (Brazil, euphemistic, of people) Generally lower-class; uneducated and/or poor.
Derived terms
Further reading
- “simples”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
- “simples”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsimples/ [ˈsĩm.ples]
- Rhymes: -imples
- Syllabification: sim‧ples
Adjective
simples m pl or f pl
- plural of simple
Noun
simples m pl or f pl
- plural of simple
Categories:
- English terms suffixed with -s (hypocoristic)
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sem-
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English interjections
- British English
- English humorous terms
- English informal terms
- English terms with quotations
- English non-lemma forms
- English noun forms
- English verb forms
- Asturian non-lemma forms
- Asturian adjective forms
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan non-lemma forms
- Catalan adjective forms
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French non-lemma forms
- French adjective forms
- French noun forms
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German non-lemma forms
- German adjective forms
- Mirandese non-lemma forms
- Mirandese adjective forms
- Portuguese terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *pel- (fold)
- Portuguese terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sem-
- Portuguese terms derived from Latin
- Portuguese terms inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese
- Portuguese terms inherited from Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Portuguese terms derived from Old Galician-Portuguese
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese terms with audio pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese adjectives
- Portuguese indeclinable adjectives
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Portuguese euphemisms
- Spanish 2-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/imples
- Rhymes:Spanish/imples/2 syllables
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish adjective forms
- Spanish noun forms