Whats the rule that makes "please" pronounced the same as "pleas"?
11.06.2025 09:58
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?
You'll usually find your answer there.
Speech by Governor Kugler on the economic outlook and monetary policy - Federal Reserve Board (.gov)
Words are pronounced the way that they're pronounced.
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.
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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.
Back in the day (circa 1300), it was written <plesen>.