Etymograph

English

supple

Supple comes from Latin supplex ‘suppliant’, from supplicō ‘to pray, beseech’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-1‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō1‘fold, bend, roll up’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplicō2‘to pray, beseech’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplex3as supplic-‘suppliant’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400souple3
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500souple3‘pliant, supple’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590supple3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin supplico
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin supplex
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English supple
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto V: “The flesh therewith she suppled and did steepe”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-Wiktionary, Latin supplico‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicōWiktionary, Latin supplico‘fold, bend, roll up’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplicōWiktionary, Latin supplex‘to pray, beseech’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupplexWiktionary, English suppleas supplic-‘suppliant’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400soupleWiktionary, English supple
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500soupleWiktionary, English supple‘pliant, supple’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590suppleWiktionary, English supple. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto V: “The flesh therewith she suppled and did steepe”

The story

Either from sub + plicō (‘bend’) (compare complex), or from sub + plācō (‘placate’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’

complex, fiasco, replication, flax, flack, plexus, flagon, 34 more

through Latin plicō ‘fold, bend, roll up’

display, employment, apply, reply, explicit, employ, exploitation, exploit, imply, deploy, replica, implicit, complication, complicate, accomplice, ploy, complicity, inexplicable, ply, implicate, pliable, triplicate, explication, pliant, splay, 22 more

Today it means

adj Pliant, flexible, easy to bend.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “supple”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin supplico, Latin supplex. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- / supple

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