late 14c., "easy to be bent, readily yielding to force or pressure without rupture," from Old French ploiable "flexible, bendable," from plier "to bend," from Latin plicare "to fold, lay" (from PIE root *plek- "to plait"). The figurative sense of "flexible in disposition, readily yielding to influence or argument" is by late 15c. Related: Pliably, pliability.
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to plait." It is an extended form of root *pel- (2) "to fold."
It forms all or part of: accomplice; application; apply; complex; complexion; complicate; complication; complicity; deploy; display; duplex; duplicate; duplicity; employ; explicate; explicit; exploit; flax; implex; implicate; implication; implicit; imply; multiply; perplex; perplexity; plait; plash (v.2) "to interlace;" pleat; -plex; plexus; pliable; pliant; plie; plight (n.1) "condition or state;" ply (v.1) "work with, use;" ply (v.2) "to bend; ply (n.) "a layer, fold;" replica; replicate; replication; reply; simplex; splay; triplicate.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit prasna- "turban;" Greek plekein "to plait, braid, wind, twine," plektos "twisted;" Latin plicare "to lay, fold, twist," plectere (past participle plexus) "to plait, braid, intertwine;" Old Church Slavonic plesti "to braid, plait, twist," Russian plesti; Gothic flahta "braid;" Old Norse fletta, Old High German flehtan "to plait;" Old English fleax "cloth made with flax, linen."
updated on July 11, 2020
