English
supple
Supple comes from Latin supplex ‘suppliant’, from supplicō ‘to pray, beseech’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘fold, bend, roll up’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplicō‘to pray, beseech’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplexas supplic-‘suppliant’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400souple
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500souple‘pliant, supple’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590supple
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘fold, bend, roll up’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplicō‘to pray, beseech’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplexas supplic-‘suppliant’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400souple
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500souple‘pliant, supple’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590supple
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto V: “The flesh therewith she suppled and did steepe”.
The story
Either from sub + plicō (‘bend’) (compare complex), or from sub + plācō (‘placate’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’
complex, fiasco, replication, flax, flack, plexus, flagon, 34 more
through Latin plicō ‘fold, bend, roll up’
display, employment, apply, reply, explicit, employ, exploitation, exploit, imply, deploy, replica, implicit, complication, complicate, accomplice, ploy, complicity, inexplicable, ply, implicate, pliable, triplicate, explication, pliant, splay, 22 more
Today it means
adj Pliant, flexible, easy to bend.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- / supple