placer

See also: plácer and Placer

English

Etymology 1

From place +‎ -er (agent noun suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpleɪsə(ɹ)/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪsə(ɹ)

Noun

placer (plural placers)

1. One who places or arranges something.
   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Ægloga Secunda.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:

     Thou placer of plants both humble and tall

2. (slang) One who deals in stolen goods; a fence.
3. (gambling, in combination) A horse, etc. that finishes in a particular place in a race.

   a third-placer

Synonyms

• (one who places):
• (dealer in stolen goods): fence, receiver

Etymology 2

From place +‎ -er (suffix apparently denoting association).

Noun

placer (plural placers)

1. (ethology, sheep, Australia, New Zealand) A lamb whose mother has died and which has transferred its attachment to an object, such as a bush or rock, in the locality.
   • 1951, Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, Problems of Infancy and Childhood, volume 4, page 101:

     This is a “placer” sheep, as it is called. The prerequisites to this condition are that the young sheep must be still nursing, but must have begun to nibble grass. It must be the young of a mother that has been somewhat isolated, away from the corral and away from the herd, by herself out on the prairie. Now, when the mother dies, the lamb remains close to the mother′s body […] .

   • 1971, American Society of Animal Science. Journal of Animal Science, Volume 32, Pages 601-1298, page 1281,

     In Australia “placer” lambs are also destroyed, for these too are of little use; they will return constantly to one place, not staying with the flock.

See also

• cade, poddy
• imprinting

Etymology 3

From American Spanish placer, from earlier placel, apparently from obsolete Portuguese placel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplæsə(ɹ)/, /ˈpleɪsə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æsə(ɹ)
• Rhymes: -eɪsə(ɹ)

Adjective

placer (not comparable)

1. (mining) alluvial; occurring in a deposit of sand or earth on a river-bed or bank, particularly with reference to precious metals such as gold or silver
   • 1995, Paul T. Craddock, Early Metal Mining and Production, page 110:

     Placer gold comes from the weathering of the primary veins releasing the gold to be transported by water action and concentrated in gravel or sand beds.

   • 2002, Philip Ball, The Elements: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, published 2004, page 46:

     Since time immemorial, people found that they could extract the gold from placer deposits by sifting the fine-grained material through a mesh: the technique of panning.

   • 2008, Tanyo Ravicz, Of Knives and Men: Alaskans, page 77:

     He still ran a placer mine in the Interior.

Noun

placer (plural placers)

1. A place where the superficial detritus is washed for gold, etc.
2. (by extension) Any place holding treasures.

Derived terms

• Placer County

Anagrams

• carpel, craple, parcel

French

Etymology

From place +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pla.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Homophones: placé, placés, placée, placées, placez, plaçai

Verb

placer

1. to place (to put in a specific location)
2. to seat (to put an object into a place where it will rest)
3. (reflexive) to place (to earn a given spot in a competition)

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of placer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	placer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	plaçant /pla.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		placé /pla.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	place /plas/	places /plas/	place /plas/	plaçons /pla.sɔ̃/	placez /pla.se/	placent /plas/
	imperfect	plaçais /pla.sɛ/	plaçais /pla.sɛ/	plaçait /pla.sɛ/	placions /pla.sjɔ̃/	placiez /pla.sje/	plaçaient /pla.sɛ/
	past historic2	plaçai /pla.se/	plaças /pla.sa/	plaça /pla.sa/	plaçâmes /pla.sam/	plaçâtes /pla.sat/	placèrent /pla.sɛʁ/
	future	placerai /pla.sʁe/	placeras /pla.sʁa/	placera /pla.sʁa/	placerons /pla.sʁɔ̃/	placerez /pla.sʁe/	placeront /pla.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	placerais /pla.sʁɛ/	placerais /pla.sʁɛ/	placerait /pla.sʁɛ/	placerions /pla.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	placeriez /pla.sə.ʁje/	placeraient /pla.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	place /plas/	places /plas/	place /plas/	placions /pla.sjɔ̃/	placiez /pla.sje/	placent /plas/
	imperfect2	plaçasse /pla.sas/	plaçasses /pla.sas/	plaçât /pla.sa/	plaçassions /pla.sa.sjɔ̃/	plaçassiez /pla.sa.sje/	plaçassent /pla.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	place /plas/	—	plaçons /pla.sɔ̃/	placez /pla.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• en placer une
• haut placé
• place
• placé
• placement
• placer sur un piédestal
• placeur
• se placer

Descendants

• → Danish: placere
• → German: platzieren
• → Romanian: plasa
• → Yiddish: אײַנפּלאַצירן (aynplatsirn)

Further reading

• “placer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• claper

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaˈtser/

Noun

placer (uncountable)

1. pleasure

Verb

placer

1. to please

Conjugation

    Conjugation of placer

infinitive		placer
participle		present	perfect
		placente	placite
active		simple	perfect
	present	place	ha placite
	past	placeva	habeva placite
	future	placera	habera placite
	conditional	placerea	haberea placite
	imperative	place	—
passive		simple	perfect
	present	es placite	ha essite placite
	past	esseva placite	habeva essite placite
	future	essera placite	habera essite placite
	conditional	esserea placite	haberea essite placite
	imperative	sia placite	—

Latin

Verb

plācer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of plācō

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaˈθeɾ/ [plaˈθeɾ] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /plaˈseɾ/ [plaˈseɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: pla‧cer

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin placēre, with irregular conservation of initial /pl-/ (the expected form would be *llacer). Compare Portuguese prazer.

Verb

placer (first-person singular present plazco, first-person singular preterite plací, past participle placido)

1. (intransitive, used with indirect object pronouns) to like (something or someone)

   Synonym: gustar

   Esto me place mucho.

   I really like this.

2. (literary) to please (somebody)

   Synonym: agradar

Usage notes

• The third-person forms with the stems plug- and pleg- (plugo, pluguiera, plega/plegue, pluguieron, pluguieran, etc.) are archaic. In modern literature they may be used in place of forms such as plació, plazca and placiera with the intention of recalling old-fashioned style.

Conjugation

    Conjugation of placer (irregular; c-zc alternation) (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			placer
gerund			placiendo
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		placido		placida
		plural		placidos		placidas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	plazco	placestú placésvos	place	placemos	placéis	placen
	imperfect	placía	placías	placía	placíamos	placíais	placían
	preterite	plací	placiste	plació, plugo3	placimos	placisteis	placieron, pluguieron3
	future	placeré	placerás	placerá	placeremos	placeréis	placerán
	conditional	placería	placerías	placería	placeríamos	placeríais	placerían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	plazca	plazcastú plazcásvos2	plazca, plega3, plegue3	plazcamos	plazcáis	plazcan
	imperfect (ra)	placiera	placieras	placiera, pluguiera3	placiéramos	placierais	placieran, pluguieran3
	imperfect (se)	placiese	placieses	placiese, pluguiese3	placiésemos	placieseis	placiesen, pluguiesen3
	future1	placiere	placieres	placiere, pluguiere3	placiéremos	placiereis	placieren, pluguieren3
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		placetú placévos	plazca, plega3, plegue3	plazcamos	placed	plazcan
	negative		no plazcas	no plazca, no plega3, no plegue3	no plazcamos	no plazcáis	no plazcan

¹Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.
³Archaic.

    Selected combined forms of placer (irregular; c-zc alternation)

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive placer	dative	placerme	placerte	placerle, placerse	placernos	placeros	placerles, placerse
	accusative	placerme	placerte	placerlo, placerla, placerse	placernos	placeros	placerlos, placerlas, placerse
with gerund placiendo	dative	placiéndome	placiéndote	placiéndole, placiéndose	placiéndonos	placiéndoos	placiéndoles, placiéndose
	accusative	placiéndome	placiéndote	placiéndolo, placiéndola, placiéndose	placiéndonos	placiéndoos	placiéndolos, placiéndolas, placiéndose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative place	dative	pláceme	plácete	plácele	plácenos	not used	pláceles
	accusative	pláceme	plácete	plácelo, plácela	plácenos	not used	plácelos, plácelas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative placé	dative	placeme	placete	placele	placenos	not used	placeles
	accusative	placeme	placete	placelo, placela	placenos	not used	placelos, placelas
with formal second-person singular imperative plazca, plega3, plegue3	dative	plázcame, plégame1, plégueme1	not used	plázcale, plégale1, pléguele1, plázcase, plégase1, pléguese1	plázcanos, pléganos1, pléguenos1	not used	plázcales, plégales1, plégueles1
	accusative	plázcame, plégame1, plégueme1	not used	plázcalo, plégalo1, pléguelo1, plázcala, plégala1, pléguela1, plázcase, plégase1, pléguese1	plázcanos, pléganos1, pléguenos1	not used	plázcalos, plégalos1, pléguelos1, plázcalas, plégalas1, pléguelas1
with first-person plural imperative plazcamos	dative	not used	plazcámoste	plazcámosle	plazcámonos	plazcámoos	plazcámosles
	accusative	not used	plazcámoste	plazcámoslo, plazcámosla	plazcámonos	plazcámoos	plazcámoslos, plazcámoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative placed	dative	placedme	not used	placedle	placednos	placeos	placedles
	accusative	placedme	not used	placedlo, placedla	placednos	placeos	placedlos, placedlas
with formal second-person plural imperative plazcan	dative	plázcanme	not used	plázcanle	plázcannos	not used	plázcanles, plázcanse
	accusative	plázcanme	not used	plázcanlo, plázcanla	plázcannos	not used	plázcanlos, plázcanlas, plázcanse

¹Archaic.

Noun

placer m (plural placeres)

1. pleasure; something done to please

   Ha sido un placer conocerte.

   It was a pleasure to meet you.

Derived terms

• a placer
• antro de placer

Related terms

• complacer

Etymology 2

Related to placel (“sandbank”), from plaza (“place”).

Noun

placer m (plural placeres)

1. (geology, mining) placer (place where the superficial detritus is washed for gold)
2. (nautical) sandbank

Further reading

• “placer”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Anagrams

• percal