Prithee

Part of speech: interjection, verb

Definitions

1. An archaic plea or entreaty used to ask someone politely or earnestly for something
2. A formal, old-fashioned expression of a courteous request or appeal to another person
3. An antiquated word of respectful supplication, used to beseech someone with politeness

Etymology: "Prithee" is a contraction of "I pray thee," where "pray" meant "beg" or "ask earnestly" and "thee" was the old object form of "you." The phrase was a polite way of saying "please" or "I beg you," and over time the three words fused into a single unit that no longer felt like a sentence. The fusion is what makes the word interesting. Once speakers stopped hearing "I" and "pray" and "thee" as separate words, the compressed form could be used as a simple interjection, a bit of courteous padding in a request, rather than a verb phrase. The pronoun "thee" fell out of everyday English, but "prithee" kept its place in the archaic register.

Synonyms: please, pray