English
supplication
Supplication comes from Latin supplicō ‘to supplicate’, from plicō ‘fold, bend, roll up’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-.
- 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 CEsupplicōas supplicare‘to supplicate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplicatio
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400supplication
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500supplicacioun
- Englishearliest quotation 2025supplication
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 CEsupplicōas supplicare‘to supplicate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplicatio
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400supplication
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500supplicacioun
- Englishearliest quotation 2025supplication
Earliest quotation: 2025, Adam Serwer, The Confrontation Between Trump and the Supreme Court Has Ar: “If Trump defies the Court, there is little to…”
Equivalent to supplicate + -ion
Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’
Latin supplicātus ‘prayed’
Middle English supplicaten ‘to request’
English supplicate
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’
complex, fiasco, exploitation, flax, flack, plexus, replication, flagon, 34 more
through Latin plicō ‘fold, bend, roll up’
apply, display, employment, reply, employ, exploit, imply, explicit, deploy, replica, implicit, ploy, ply, accomplice, inexplicable, complicity, complicate, complication, pliable, implicate, splay, pliant, triplicate, explication, 23 more
Today it means
noun An act of supplicating; a humble request.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- / supplication