What ‘Please’ Is Short For

“Say please!” This instruction is drilled into most children as they learn manners. The word “please” is a polite request for someone to do something for you or perhaps give you something. But if you look at the origins of this popular pleasantry, you’ll find that it’s derived from a longer phrase that has since become largely obsolete in the English language.

“Please” originated as a verb around the year 1300, from the Middle English “plesen,” which meant “to appease.” That term came from the Old French verb plaisir, meaning “to satisfy.” But by the latter half of the 14th century, the verb “please” took on a more pleasant connotation, meaning “to amuse, entertain, etc.”

It was also during the 14th century that “please” evolved to make polite requests. But back then, it was typically preceded by the words “if it” and followed by an object, as in, “if it please you.” For instance, when talking to another person, you may have said, “If it please you to invite John to dinner,” or, “If it please you to feed the dog.” More familiar variations emerged thereafter, such as “if you please” or “if it pleases you.” It’s similar to the French phrase s’il vous plaît, which literally translates to “if you please.”

By the 1620s, people shortened the phrase to just “please to” as an imperative way to ask someone else to take care of something — for example, Y“please to invite John to dinner” or “please to feed the dog.” This variation was far simpler, and dropped the words “if,” “it,” and “you” from the equation. It may sound like a mistake to the modern ear, but this sentence construction was the norm back then.

Within 150 years, people began dropping “to” as well, leaving “please” on its own. This shift occurred by the late 18th century. By the turn of the 19th century, it was more common for people to just say “please.” While the more formal constructions have fallen out of fashion in English, you’ll still hear them occasionally in legal settings, as in, “If it pleases the court.”