English
placate
Placate comes from Latin plācātus ‘soothed, appeased, calmed’, and goes back to plācō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplācō‘appease, placate’literally ‘smooth, smoothen’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEplācātus‘soothed, appeased, calmed’perfect passive participle of plācō
- Englishearliest quotation 1662placate
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplācō‘appease, placate’literally ‘smooth, smoothen’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEplācātus‘soothed, appeased, calmed’perfect passive participle of plācō
- Englishearliest quotation 1662placate
Earliest quotation: 1662, William Gurnall: “When are you more placate and serene?”
The story
First attested in the late 17ᵗʰ century; borrowed from Latin plācātus, perfect passive participle of plācō (“appease, placate”, literally “smooth, smoothen”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more), ultimately thought to be from Proto-Indo-European *plāk- (‘smooth, flat’), from *pele- (‘broad, flat, plain’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleHk- ‘pleasingness or permission’
through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘wide and flat’
field, floor, explain, planet, plane, palm, explanation, plain, clan, archipelago, fluke, parma, explanatory, flounder, playa, planar, placenta, lech, polonium, esplanade, palatine, pelagic, veld, plantar, flay, floe, purdah, llano, planta, 48 more
through Latin plācō ‘appease, placate’
Today it means
verb To calm; to bring peace to; to influence someone who was furious to the point that they become content or at least no longer irate.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin plācō / placate