'cakewalk' originates from the 19th-century Southern United States, specifically from African American communities, where 'cakewalk' was a dance performed in a contest with a cake as a prize.

'cakewalk' changed from a literal dance contest to a metaphor for something easy, eventually becoming the modern English word 'cakewalk'.

Initially, it meant 'a dance contest with a cake as a prize', but over time it evolved into its current meaning of 'something very easy'.