Meaning

verb move gently or carefully

noun freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort

verb lessen pain or discomfort; alleviate

originFrom Middle English ese, eise, aise, from Anglo-Norman ese (“ease”), from Old French eise, aise (“elbow room; opportunity”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Apparently related to Provençal ais, Italian agio and asio, Sicilian aciu and Portuguese azo. Sometimes ascribed to Vulgar Latin *āsia or *āsium, possibly from Latin ānsa (“handle, haft”) or Frankish *ansiju (“handle, loophole, eyelet;…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0