play
/pleɪ̯/ [pɫ̥eɪ̯ ~ pʰɫeɪ̯]
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.61 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To act in a manner such that one has fun; to engage in activities expressly for the purpose of recreation or entertainment.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "The children played in the park."
- "A youngster[…]listed some of the things his pet did not do:[…]go on vacation, play in the same way that he did with his friends, and so on."
- "2003, Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont et al. (eds.), Joining Society: Social Interaction and Learning in Adolescence and Youth, Cambridge Univ. Press, p.52:"
- "Don't play with your food!"
- "He's just playing with her affections."
- "Thus Men are apt to play with their Healths and their Lives as they do with their Cloaths: [...]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *plehan Old English pleġan Proto-West Germanic *plegō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-West Germanic *-ōn Proto-West Germanic *plegōn Old English plegian Middle English pleyen Proto-West Germanic *plegō Old English plega Middle English pleye English play From Middle English pleyen (verb) and Middle English pleye (noun), from Old English plegian and plegan, plagian (“to play, exercise, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *plehan (“to care about, be concerned with”) and Proto-West Germanic *plegōn (“to engage, move”), of uncertain origin. cognates and related terms Cognate with Scots play (“to act or move briskly, cause to move, stir”), Saterland Frisian pleegje (“to look after, care for, maintain”), West Frisian pleegje, pliigje (“to commit, perform, bedrive”), Middle Dutch pleyen ("to dance, leap for joy, rejoice, be glad"; compare Modern Dutch pleien (“to play a particular children's game”)), Dutch plegen (“to commit, bedrive, practice”), German pflegen (“to care for, be concerned with, attend to, tend”). Related also to Old English plēon (“to risk, endanger”). More at plight, pledge. The noun is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, plega, plæġa (“play, quick motion, movement, exercise; (athletic) sport, game; festivity, drama; battle; gear for games, an implement for a game; clapping with the hands, applause”), deverbative of plegian (“to play”); see above.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: pleyen, pleye, plegian, *plehan, *plegōn, plæġ
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pleɪ̯/ [pɫ̥eɪ̯ ~ pʰɫeɪ̯]