different between please vs let

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pli?z/, [pl??iz]
• (General American) enPR: pl?z, IPA^(key): /pliz/, [p??iz]
• Rhymes: -i?z
• Homophone: pleas

Etymology 1

From Middle English plesen, plaisen, borrowed from Old French plaise, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin plac?re (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pl?-k- (“wide and flat”). Displaced native English queme (“to please, satisfy”), from Middle English quemen, queamen (“to please”) (from Old English cw?man (“to please”)), Middle English biluvien (“to please, delight”) (from Middle English bi-, be- + luvien (“to love”)), Middle English liken (“to like, please”) (from Old English l?cian (“to please, be like”)), Middle English lusten, listen (“to be pleasing, delight”) (from Old English lystan (“to please”)).

Alternative forms

• pleace (used from the Middle English period up to the 15th century, and in Scots until the 17th century)

Verb

please (third-person singular simple present pleases, present participle pleasing, simple past and past participle pleased)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
2. (intransitive, ergative) To desire; to will; to be pleased by.

Synonyms

• (to make happy): satisfy
• (to desire): desire, will

Antonyms

• (to make happy): annoy, irritate, disgust, displease

Derived terms

• pleaser
• pleasing
• pleasy

Related terms

• pleasant
• pleasurable
• pleasure

Translations

Etymology 2

Short for if you please, an intransitive, ergative form taken from if it pleases you which is a calque of French s'il vous plaît, which replaced pray.

Alternative forms

• (for the exaggerated way it is often pronounced as the expression of annoyance) puh-lease

Adverb

please (not comparable)

1. Used to make a polite request.

2. Used as an affirmative to an offer.

3. An expression of annoyance or impatience.

Derived terms

• please explain
• pretty please

Descendants

• ? Bengali: ????? (plij), ????? (plij)
• ? Hindi: ?????? (pl?z) (urban, colloquial)
• ? Urdu: ????? (pl?z) (urban, colloquial)

Translations

Etymology 3

Semantic loan from German bitte (“please; excuse me”).

Adverb

please (not comparable)

1. (Cincinnati) Said as a request to repeat information.

Synonyms

• (request to repeat): what, excuse me, pardon me, come again; see also Thesaurus:say again

References

Anagrams

• Sapele, asleep, elapse, sapele

English

Alternative forms

• lett (archaic)
• lettest (2nd person singular simple present and simple past; archaic)
• letteth (3rd person singular simple present; archaic)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?t/
• Rhymes: -?t
• Homophone: Lett

Etymology 1

From Middle English leten, læten, from Old English l?tan (“to allow, let go, bequeath, leave, rent”), from Proto-Germanic *l?tan? (“to leave behind, allow”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh?d- (“to let, leave behind”). Cognate with Scots lat, lete (“to let, leave”), North Frisian lete (“to let”), West Frisian litte (“to let”), Dutch laten (“to let, leave”), German lassen (“to let, leave, allow”), Swedish låta (“to let, allow, leave”), Icelandic láta (“to let”), Albanian lë (“to allow, let, leave”) and partially related to French laisser (“to let”).

Verb

let (third-person singular simple present lets, present participle letting, simple past let or (obsolete) leet, past participle let or (archaic) letten)

1. (transitive) To allow to, not to prevent (+ infinitive, but usually without to).

   • Pharaoh said, I will let you go.

   • 1971, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan

     He could not be let die of thirst there alone in the dark.
2. (transitive) To leave.
3. (transitive) To allow the release of (a fluid).

4. (transitive) To allow possession of (a property etc.) in exchange for rent.
5. (transitive) To give, grant, or assign, as a work, privilege, or contract; often with out.

6. (transitive) Used to introduce an imperative in the first or third person.

7. (transitive, obsolete except with know) To cause (+ bare infinitive).
   • 1818, John Keats, "To—":

     Time's sea hath been five years at its slow ebb, / Long hours have to and fro let creep the sand […].

Usage notes

• The use of “let” to introduce an imperative may sometimes be confused with its use, as its own imperative, in the sense of “to allow”. For example, the sentence “Let me go to the store.” could either be a second-person imperative of “let” (addressing someone who might prevent the speaker from going to the store) or a first-person singular imperative of “go” (not implying any such preventer).

Synonyms

• (to allow): allow, permit

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

let (plural lets)

1. The allowing of possession of a property etc. in exchange for rent.

Etymology 2

From Middle English letten (“to hinder, delay”), from Old English lettan (“to hinder, delay”; literally, “to make late”), from Proto-Germanic *latjan?. Akin to Old English latian (“to delay”), Dutch letten, Old English læt (“late”). More at late, delay.

Verb

let (third-person singular simple present lets, present participle letting, simple past letted, past participle let)

1. (archaic) To hinder, prevent, impede, hamper, cumber; to obstruct (someone or something).

   • He who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine

     Mine ancient wound is hardly whole, / And lets me from the saddle.

2. (obsolete) To prevent someone from doing something; also to prevent something from happening.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts 8:

     And as they went on their waye, they cam unto a certayne water, and the gelded man sayde: Se here is water, what shall lett me to be baptised?

3. (obsolete) To tarry or delay.

   • No longer wold he lette.

Noun

let (plural lets)

1. An obstacle or hindrance.
   • 1567 Arthur Golding; Ovid's Metamorphoses Bk. 3 Lines 60-1

     And Cadmus saw his campanie make tarience in that sort

     He marveld what should be their let, and went to seeke them out.

   • 1552, Hugh Latimer, the third sermon preached on the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity

     Consider whether your doings be to the let of your salvation or not.

2. (tennis) The hindrance caused by the net during serve, only if the ball falls legally.

Derived terms

• without let or hindrance

Translations

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Anagrams

• ELT, ETL, LTE, TEL, TLE, Tel., elt, tel

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?t]
• Homophone: led

Etymology 1

From let?t.

Noun

let m

1. flight (the act of flying)

Declension

Derived terms

• letový

Etymology 2

Noun

let

1. genitive plural of léto

Further reading

• let in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• let in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse léttr, from Proto-Germanic *linhtaz, cognate with Swedish lätt, English light and German leicht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?d?]

Adjective

let (plural and definite singular attributive lette)

1. light (not heavy)
2. easy
3. slight
4. mild

Inflection

Synonyms

• (easy): nem, enkel

References

• “let,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Adverb

let

1. lightly
2. easily
3. slightly
4. mildly

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of letmælk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?d?]

Noun

let c (singular definite letten, plural indefinite let)

1. low-fat milk

Inflection

References

• “let,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?d?]

Verb

let

1. imperative of lette

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?le?d?]

Verb

let

1. past participle of le

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?t

Verb

let

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of letten
2. imperative of letten

Anagrams

• tel

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English let.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?t/

Interjection

let

1. (tennis) indicates a let on service

Further reading

• “let” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin l?ctus, perfect passive participle of leg?.

Verb

let

1. past participle of lei- read

Gothic

Romanization

l?t

1. Romanization of ????????????

Irish

Alternative forms

• led

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l??t??/

Contraction

let (triggers lenition)

1. (Munster) Contraction of le do (“with your sg”).

Related terms

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse litr (“colour”), related to líta (“to see”)

Noun

let m (definite singular leten, indefinite plural leter, definite plural letene)

1. colour

Synonyms

• farge

Derived terms

• hamlet

Etymology 2

Verb

let

1. imperative of lete

References

• “let” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse litr (“colour”), from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlituz. Related to Old Norse líta (“to see”)

Alternative forms

• (non-standard since 2012) lett

Noun

let m (definite singular leten, indefinite plural leter or letar, definite plural letene or letane)

1. colour

   Synonym: farge

Derived terms

• hamlet

Etymology 2

Verb

let

1. present tense of la
2. present tense of lata and late
3. past tense of la
4. past tense of lata and late

Etymology 3

Verb

let

1. imperative of leta and lete

Further reading

• “let” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• elt, etl, lèt, lét, tel

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From lètjeti.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lê?t/

Noun

l?t m (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. flight

Declension

Related terms

• lètjeti / lèteti

References

• “let” in Hrvatski jezi?ni portal

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l??t/

Noun

l?t m inan

1. flight

Inflection

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English leather.

Noun

let

1. leather
2. strap (of leather)
3. belt

Westrobothnian

Etymology 1

From Old Norse litr, from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlituz (“appearance, look, aspect”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to see”).

Noun

let m

1. colour
2. complexion

Synonyms

• leit n

Etymology 2

Verb

let

1. preterite singular of låt