plier

English

Etymology

ply +‎ -er

Noun

plier (plural pliers)

1. One who plies.

See also

• pliers (plurale tantum)

Anagrams

• peril, piler, prile

---

French

Etymology

From Latin plicāre, present active infinitive of plicō. This produced Old French ploiier, pleier in (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French, which was later changed analogically under the influence of the stressed stem pli-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pli.je/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

plier

1. (transitive) to fold (bend (something) over; arrange by folding)
2. to fold up
3. to bend
4. to mess up; to do in; to damage
5. (figuratively) to kill, kill off (a game)

Conjugation

Conjugation of plier (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	plier
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	pliant /pli.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		plié /pli.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	plie /pli/	plies /pli/	plie /pli/	plions /pli.jɔ̃/	pliez /pli.je/	plient /pli/
	imperfect	pliais /pli.jɛ/	pliais /pli.jɛ/	pliait /pli.jɛ/	pliions /pli.jɔ̃/	pliiez /pli.je/	pliaient /pli.jɛ/
	past historic2	pliai /pli.je/	plias /pli.ja/	plia /pli.ja/	pliâmes /pli.jam/	pliâtes /pli.jat/	plièrent /pli.jɛʁ/
	future	plierai /pli.ʁe/	plieras /pli.ʁa/	pliera /pli.ʁa/	plierons /pli.ʁɔ̃/	plierez /pli.ʁe/	plieront /pli.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	plierais /pli.ʁɛ/	plierais /pli.ʁɛ/	plierait /pli.ʁɛ/	plierions /pli.ʁjɔ̃/	plieriez /pli.ʁje/	plieraient /pli.ʁɛ/
(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	plie /pli/	plies /pli/	plie /pli/	pliions /pli.jɔ̃/	pliiez /pli.je/	plient /pli/
	imperfect2	pliasse /pli.jas/	pliasses /pli.jas/	pliât /pli.ja/	pliassions /pli.ja.sjɔ̃/	pliassiez /pli.ja.sje/	pliassent /pli.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	plie /pli/	—	plions /pli.jɔ̃/	pliez /pli.je/	—
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

• déplier
• replier

Related terms

• ployer

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• péril, piler, repli

---

Maltese

Etymology

From Italo-Romance (compare Italian piliere), from Old French piler, from Vulgar Latin *pilāre, derived from pila.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɪːr/

Noun

1. pillar

Synonyms

• kolonna

---

Middle French

Etymology

Modified from Old French pleier, ploiier under the influence of the stressed stem pli-.

Verb

plier

1. to fold

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of plier

infinitive	simple	plier
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	pliant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		plié
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	plie	plies	plie	plions	pliez	plient
	imperfect	pliois, plioys	pliois, plioys	plioit, plioyt	pliions, pliyons	pliiez, pliyez	plioient, plioyent
	past historic	plia	plias	plia	pliasmes	pliastes	plierent
	future	plierai, plieray	plieras	pliera	plierons	plierez	plieront
	conditional	plierois, plieroys	plierois, plieroys	plieroit, plieroyt	plierions, plieryons	plieriez, plieryez	plieroient, plieroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	plie	plies	plie	plions	pliez	plient
	imperfect	pliasse	pliasses	pliast	pliassions	pliassiez	pliassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	plie	—	plions	pliez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: plier