English Online Dictionary. What means please? What does please mean?
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /pliːz/
- (General American) enPR: plēz, IPA(key): /pliz/
- Rhymes: -iːz
- Homophone: pleas
Etymology 1
From Middle English plesen, plaisen, borrowed from Old French plaise, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placeō (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleHk- (“pleasingness, permission”). In this sense, displaced native Old English līcian, whence Modern English like.
Alternative forms
- pleace (used from the Middle English period up to the 15th century, and in Scots until the 17th century)
- plaise
Verb
please (third-person singular simple present pleases, present participle pleasing, simple past and past participle pleased)
- (ambitransitive) To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
- Synonyms: cheer, hearten, satisfy; see also Thesaurus:gladden, Thesaurus:satisfy
- Antonyms: annoy, disgust, displease, irritate; see also Thesaurus:annoy
- (intransitive, ergative) To desire; to will; to be pleased by.
- Synonyms: desire, will
Conjugation
Derived terms
Related terms
- pleasant
- pleasurable
- pleasure
Descendants
- → Dutch: pleasen
Translations
Etymology 2
Short for if you please, an intransitive, ergative form taken from if it please you which is a calque of French s’il vous plaît, which replaced pray. If it please you is a present subjunctive form, but most current uses of please are not parsed that way.
Alternative forms
- (for the exaggerated way it is often pronounced as the expression of annoyance) puh-lease
Adverb
please (not comparable)
- Used to make a polite request.
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Bengali: প্লিজ (plij), প্লীজ (plij)
- → Finnish: pliis (colloquial)
- → Hindi: प्लीज़ (plīz) (urban, colloquial)
- → Welsh: plis
Interjection
please
- (often with yes) Used as an affirmative to an offer.
- Near-synonym: thank you
- An expression of annoyance, impatience, or exasperation.
- Coordinate terms: see Thesaurus:wow
Translations
Etymology 3
Semantic loan from German bitte (“please; excuse me”).
Interjection
please
- (Cincinnati) Said as a request to repeat information.
- Synonyms: pardon, pardon me, beg pardon, excuse me; say again, come again, what's that, what; see also Thesaurus:say again
References
Anagrams
- Sapele, asleep, elapse, sapele