Meaning of Idiom ‘Easy as ABC’
When something is easy as ABC it is very easy; not difficult at all. 1Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.,2McCarthy, Michael. Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms. Cambridge University Press, 2002
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See similar idioms:
Easy as Pie
Dead Easy
Piece of Cake
Cakewalk
Not Rocket Science
Examples of Use
“I don’t understand how to work this phone,” said Eddy’s grandmother. “It’s easy as ABC,” replied Eddy.
“Do you know how to fix a toilet?” asked Mandy. “Yeah, it’s as easy as ABC,” said Owen.
“Putting together this bookshelf is supposed to be easy as ABC but the instructions don’t make any sense.”
Origin
An earlier variant of this idiom was plain as ABC, dating from the late 1600s. Easy as ABC was used by the mid-1800s. Both variants allude to being as easy as learning the first three letters of the alphabet. 3Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. The expression may also related to children’s first spelling primers from the 15th to 17th century, which were often called ABC books, leading to ABC being used figuratively to mean the rudimentary basics of something. 4Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.
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Sources
| 1, 4. | ↲ | Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010. |
| 2. | ↲ | McCarthy, Michael. Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms. Cambridge University Press, 2002 |
| 3. | ↲ | Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. |