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Whats the rule that makes "please" pronounced the same as "pleas"?

Last Updated: 22.06.2025 13:18

Whats the rule that makes "please" pronounced the same as "pleas"?

Back in the day (circa 1300), it was written <plesen>.

Whence the <ea> I cannot say but some other words that were spelled <ai> in French are spelled <ea> in English: aise → ease, graisse → grease, fait → feat.

Pleas is spelled <pleas> because it's the plural of pleas.

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While you may reasonably ask why words are spelled the way they're spelled, it makes no sense to ask why they're pronounced the way they're pronounced.

What's (not “whats”) the rule?

You'll usually find your answer there.

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Words are pronounced the way that they're pronounced.

If you're curious about why a word is spelled the way it's spelled, your first recourse should be etymonline dot com.

Please is an anglicization of the French word plaisir.

Why is Harry Sisson such a whiny hypocrite? He complained about President Trump going to the Super Bowl "costing millions of taxpayers' dollars," but not a word when Taylor Swift, another multimillionaire, did the same thing.

There's no rule.