# please

> English word · Verb · IPA /pliːz/ · frequency rank #208

## Definitions
1. To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
2. To desire; to will; to be pleased by.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **plebs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/please-vs-plebs)
- **pledge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/please-vs-pledge)
- **pleased** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/please-vs-pleased)
- **pleated** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/please-vs-pleated)
- **pleaser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/please-vs-pleaser)
- **pleasure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/please-vs-pleasure)
- **plea** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plea-vs-please)
- **peas** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peas-vs-please)
- **place** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/place-vs-please)
- **peace** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peace-vs-please)
- **plane** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plane-vs-please)
- **phase** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/phase-vs-please)
- **plate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plate-vs-please)
- **plead** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plead-vs-please)
- **pleas** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pleas-vs-please)
- **pease** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pease-vs-please)
- **peasy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peasy-vs-please)
- **phrase** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/phrase-vs-please)
- **pleaded** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pleaded-vs-please)

## Common misspellings (8)
`lpease`, `pelase`, `plaese`, `pleaes`, `pleasse`, `plesae`, `pllease`, `pplease`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/please