Ply

How to spell ply

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce ply

What does ply mean?

1. nounA single layer or thickness of a material such as yarn, wood, or tissue, often combined with others.
2. verbTo work steadily at a trade, or to use a tool or skill diligently.
3. verbTo travel regularly back and forth along a particular route.
4. verbTo keep offering someone food, drink, or questions, often persistently.

Ply in a sentence

• noun

  This knitting pattern calls for four-ply wool rather than the thicker chunky yarn.

• verb

  The tailors who ply their trade on this street have been here for decades.

• verb

  Small ferries ply the harbour between the two islands every hour.

• verb

  The hosts would ply every guest with second helpings until the food ran out.

• noun

  The kitchen roll feels sturdier because each sheet is two ply thick.

• verb

  Street vendors ply their craft from dawn until the markets close.

Where does ply come from?

Language of origin: French

The word ply actually braids together two strands with the same Latin parent. The noun, meaning a layer or fold, came into English in the late 1400s from the French pli, 'a fold', which traces back to the Latin verb plicare, meaning 'to fold' or 'to bend'. That same plicare gives us a large family of folding words, including 'pleat', 'plait', 'apply', 'reply' and 'complicate'. The verb ply, meaning to work steadily at something or to use a tool, is a worn-down form of 'apply', from Latin applicare ('to attach oneself to' or 'to devote oneself to'), and from the idea of devoting oneself to a route it came to mean travelling back and forth regularly. The short, three-letter spelling hides this rich history: although ply looks too small to misremember, its sense of folding survives most clearly in 'three-ply' wool and in 'plywood', where thin layers are glued together.

How the word is built

• ply (root from Latin plicare: to fold)