English
please
Please comes from Latin placeō ‘to please, to seem good’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pleHk-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleHk-‘pleasingness’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaceō‘to please’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400plaise
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plesen
- Englishearliest quotation 1611please
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleHk-‘pleasingness’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaceō‘to please’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400plaise
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plesen
- Englishearliest quotation 1611please
Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Whatsoeuer the Lord pleased, that did he in heauen…”
The story
In this sense, displaced native Old English līcian, whence Modern English.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleHk- ‘pleasingness, permission’
through Latin placeō ‘to please, to seem good’
Today it means
verb To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleHk- / please