Etymograph

English

placid

Placid comes from French placide ‘calm, quiet, peaceful’, and goes back to Latin placeō ‘please, satisfy’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaceō1‘please, satisfy’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplacidus1‘peaceful, calm, placid’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentplacide1‘calm, quiet, peaceful’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1847placid1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English placid
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1847, Charlotte Brontë: “April advanced to May: a bright serene May it…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaceōWiktionary, English placid‘please, satisfy’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplacidusWiktionary, English placid‘peaceful, calm, placid’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentplacideWiktionary, English placid‘calm, quiet, peaceful’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1847placidWiktionary, English placid. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1847, Charlotte Brontë: “April advanced to May: a bright serene May it…”

Linked words

through Latin placeō ‘please, satisfy’

please, pleasure, plead, placebo, pleasance, 6 more

Today it means

adj calm and quiet; peaceful; tranquil

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “placid”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin placeō / placid

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