Etymograph

English

pleasure

Pleasure comes from Middle English plaisir, from Old French plaisir ‘to please’, used as a noun, from Latin placeō ‘to please’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂-k-‘wide and flat’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaceō‘to please’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400plaisir‘to please; pleasure’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598pleasure

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂-k-‘wide and flat’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaceō‘to please’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400plaisir‘to please; pleasure’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598pleasure

Earliest quotation: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “Use your pleasure; if your love do not persuade…”

The story

From Early Modern English pleasur, plesur, alteration (with ending accommodated to -ure) of Middle English plaisir (‘pleasure’), from Old French plesir, plaisir (‘to please’), infinitive used as a noun, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placeō (‘to please, to seem good’), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-k- (‘wide and flat’).

Linked words

through Latin placeō ‘to please, to seem good’

placebo, plead, placid, 8 more

Today it means

noun A state of being pleased or contented; gratification.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-k- / pleasure

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