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

12.06.2025 00:14

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

Words are pronounced the way that they're pronounced.

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.

What's (not “whats”) the rule?

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

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.

There's no rule.

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

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.

Canadians went out of their way to help Americans stranded in Canada after 9.11.2001. Why did Canadians help so much the way they did? We read that Canadians don't particularly like Americans to begin with.

You'll usually find your answer there.