Pleasures

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈplɛʒɚz/

Definitions

1. Experiences that bring a feeling of enjoyment, satisfaction, or happiness
2. Activities or moments that give rise to feelings of delight and contentment
3. Sources of joy or happiness that provide a gratifying or enjoyable sensation

Etymology: "Pleasures" is the plural of "pleasure," and the singular carries a surprising bit of grammar in its making: it began as an infinitive. In Old French, "plesir" or "plaisir" meant "to please," and speakers used the verb form as a noun, so the word for a pleasant sensation was originally just the act of pleasing. The verb itself came from Latin "placere," meaning "to please" or "to seem good," the same root behind words like "placid" and "placebo." English borrowed the noun in Middle English as "plaisir," and it reached its modern shape only in Early Modern English, when "-ure" was added so the ending matched the many other nouns with that suffix. The change was an alteration of spelling and ending, not of sense, so the core idea of gratification has stayed close to what the French speakers meant.

Synonyms: delights, enjoyments, satisfactions, gratifications, contentments

Antonyms: pain, sorrow, displeasure, misery, discontent