Other forms: pleasures
Pleasure is a feeling of enjoyment and satisfaction. Take pleasure in, a real pleasure, my pleasure.
My pleasure is the warm reply to thanks, and it is commoner in American than British English, where not at all and no problem compete. It is my pleasure to introduce is standard at a podium. Business before pleasure is the old formula. Note pleasurable; and at Her Majesty's pleasure, which is the legal phrase for detention without a fixed term.
1nounpleasureA feeling of enjoyment and satisfaction.~98%
“Reading in the garden on a sunny afternoon gives me great pleasure.”
2nounpoliteA polite reply to thanks.~2%
“When I thanked him for his help, he smiled and said, 'My pleasure.'”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 16 sentences found in the wild and placed 15 of them on a sense (1 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
pleasure is a feeling of enjoyment.
Old French plaisir is the infinitive of to please used as a noun, from Latin placere. Please, placid and complacent come from the same pleasing.
Proto-Indo-European
*pleh₂-
Proto-Indo-European
*pleh₂-k- — wide and flat
Latin
placeō — to please, to seem good
Old French
plesir
Middle English
plaisir — pleasure
English, today
pleasure
Built from
From Early Modern English pleasur, plesur, alteration (with ending accommodated to -ure) of Middle English plaisir (“pleasure”), from Old French plesir, plaisir (“to please”), infinitive used as a noun, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placeō (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European pleh₂-k- (“wide and flat”). Related to Dutch plezier (“pleasure, fun”). More at please.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA