please
/pliːz//pliz/
please verb: to make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
Verb
please (third-person singular simple present pleases, present participle pleasing, simple past and past participle pleased)
Adverb
please (not comparable)
- Used to make a polite request.
- Please, pass the bread.
- Would you please sign this form?
Interjection (1)
- Used as an affirmative to an offer.
- Near-synonym: thank you
- May I help you? —(Yes,) please.
- Synonyms:
- thank you
- An expression of annoyance, impatience, or exasperation.
- Oh, please, do we have to hear that again?
- So it's safe to let a 10-year-old use a gun? Please.
- An expression of annoyance, impatience, or exasperation.
- Near-synonyms: enough, enough already, that's enough, no more, cut it out, knock it off, shut up, STFU
- Please with that damn harmonica!
- Synonyms:
- enough, enough already, that's enough, no more, cut it out, knock it off, shut up, STFU
Interjection (2)
please
- Said as a request to repeat information.
- Customer while ordering: Can I get a [unintelligible]? Restaurant employee: Please?
- Fellow: May I have a few days off to get married?
Reply, in the Cincinnati idiom by a boss who had heard the sound but not the sense:
Boss: Please?August 1973, “Bitte or Bitter?”, in Cincinnati, page 109
- Synonyms:
- pardon, pardon me, beg pardon, excuse me, say again, come again, what's that, what
please meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
please in Hindi
- to make happy or satisfy
- पसंद करना pasand karnā
- interjection to make a polite request
- कृपया kŕpyā, मेहरबानी करके meharbānī karke, प्लीज़ plīz, कृपा करके kŕpā karke
please in Tamil
- interjection to make a polite request
- தயவு செய்து tayavu ceytu
please in Marathi
- कृपया, कृपा करून
please in Urdu
- interjection to make a polite request
- لُطْفاً lutfan, بَرائے مِہْرْبانی barāe mihrbānī, بَراہِ مِہْرْبانی barāh-i mihrbānī, بَراہِ کَرَم barāh-i karam, اَز راہِ کَرَم az rāh-i karam, اَز راہِ تَلَطُّف az rāh-i talattuf
More languagesFewer languages
- please in Bengali
- খুশি করা khuśi kora, প্লিজ plij, প্লীজ plij, দয়া করে doẏa kore
- please in Telugu
- దయచేసి dayacēsi
- please in Malayalam
- ദയവായി dayavāyi, ദയവുചെയ്ത് dayavuceytŭ
- please in Kannada
- ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು dayaviṭṭu
- please in Punjabi
- ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾ ਕਰਕੇ, ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾ ਕਰ ਕੇ, ਕਿਰਪਾ ਕਰਕੇ
- please in Gujarati
- મહેરબાની કરીને, મહેરબાની કરી, કૃપા કરીને
- please in Odia
- ଘେନିବା ghenibā
- please in Sanskrit
- प्रीणाति prīṇāti
- please in Nepali
- रिझाउनु rijhāunu, कृपा गरेर kr̥pā garera, कृपया kr̥payā
- please in Pashto
- مهرباني mehrabāní, لطفا lotfan, مهرباني وکړئ
- please in Tagalog
- pakiusap
- please in Arabic
- أَرْضَى ʔarḍā, أَعْجَبَ ʔaʕjaba, مِن فَضْلِك min faḍlik, رَجَاءً rajāʔan
- please in Malay
- sila, tolong
- please in Indonesian
- minta tolong, tolong, kumohon
- please in Thai
- เอาใจ ao-jai, ช่วย chûai, กรุณา gà-rú-naa, โปรด bpròot
- please in Vietnamese
- xin, vui lòng, thôi mà, trời ơi
- please in Myanmar
- ပါ pa, ကျေးဇူးပြု၍ kye:ju:pru.rwe
Examples of please in a sentence
- Our new range of organic foods is sure to please.
- Could you tell me the time, please?
- May I take your order, please?
- Q: Should I call him to confirm? A: Please do.
- D'you mind if I open the window? —Please do.
- So now I have to go back there a third time? Please!
Synonyms of please
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- content
- delight
- elate
- enbliss
- exhilarate
- gladden
- gratify
- happify
- happy
- jollify
- light up
- make someone's day
- perk up
- raise someone's spirits
- rejoice
- turn the frown upside down
- warm someone's heart
- warm the cockles of someone's heart
- abound
- amuse
- appease
- assuage
- captivate
- cater
- cloy
- compensate
- conciliate
- entertain
- exuberate
- fascinate
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of please
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | pleases |
| present participle | pleasing |
| past participle | pleased |
| past | pleased |
| alternative form | pleace |
| alternative form | plaise |
| alternative Internet | pls |
| first-person singular past (archaic) | pleas'd |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | pleasest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | pleasedst |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | pleas'd |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | pleaseth |
| third-person singular past (archaic) | pleas'd |
| plural past (archaic) | pleas'd |
| past subjunctive (archaic) | pleas'd |
| past participle (archaic) | pleas'd |
| Adverb | |
| alternative form | puh-lease |
Origin of please
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.
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.
Semantic loan from German bitte (“please; excuse me”).
Words formed from please
- bitch, please
- OK please
- pl0x
- please clap
- please excuse my dear Aunt Sally
- please explain
- please find attached
- please God
- please help me
- please pass the salt
- please repeat after me
- please say that again
- please sit down
- please speak more slowly
- please turn left
- please turn right
- plox
- pls
- plz
- pretty please
- will the real someone please stand up
- as you please
- crowdpleasing
- displease
- go-as-you-please
- if it you please
- misplease
- outplease
- overplease
- pleasable
- pleaseman
- pleaser
- please-time
- please yourself
- pleasing
- pleasy
- superplease
- you cannot please everyone
Phrases with please
Words that rhyme with please
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- wheeze
- Cantonese
- chemise
- miner's disease
- trapeze
- Congolese
- dees
- disease
- displease
- frieze
- Japanese
- Keyes
- leese
- overseas
- pease
- Portuguese
- sneeze
- tweeze
- appease
- bes
- bez
- blue cheese
- botanese
- Burmese
- expertise
- fries
- greeze
- Guyanese
- he's
- Javanese
- keys
- legalese
- Louise
- Maltese
- Ningbonese
- octopodes
- Pekingese
- Shanghainese
- she's
- Sinhalese
- Socrates
- tees
- Versaillese
- Viennese
- Vietnamese
- a little bit of bread and no cheese
- academese
- agrees
Questions about please
- What does please mean?
- Please means to make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
- What is please in Hindi?
- Please in Hindi is पसंद करना (pasand karnā), कृपया (kŕpyā), मेहरबानी करके (meharbānī karke). See Please meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use please in a sentence?
- Our new range of organic foods is sure to please.
- What part of speech is please?
- Please can be a verb, an adverb or an interjection.
- How do you pronounce please?
- Please is pronounced /pliːz/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of please?
- The past tense of please is pleased.
Words near please in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: please (page history and authors); please (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); దయచేసి (Telugu) (page history and authors); ദയവായി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು (Kannada) (page history and authors); please (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); please (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଘେନିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-please.ogg, en-us-please.ogg.
Cite this entry: “please.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/please. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.