Complaire

Complaire is a verb found in both French and English with distinct uses in each language. In modern French, complaire means to please or to gratify someone, and it can take an indirect object with à, as in "Ce choix vous complaira" (This choice will please you). The reflexive form se complaire means to take great pleasure in something, for example "Elle se complaît dans la poésie" (She takes pleasure in poetry). The phrase "se complaire à faire quelque chose" is common, meaning to take delight in doing something.

In English, complaire is archaic and literary. It means to please, to gratify, or to comply with the wishes of another. It appears primarily in older or quotation-heavy texts and is rarely used in modern English, where please or accommodate are preferred. When it does occur, it may appear in constructions such as "to complaire to the wishes of" or in other historical phrasing.

Etymology and related forms: The word derives from Old French complaire, from Latin complacere, formed from com- (together) and placere (to please). The French derivative gives rise to related terms such as complaisant (obliging) and complaisance (a disposition to please or a willingness to accommodate). English inherits these cognates, including the adjective complaisant and the noun complaisance, which retain the broader sense of obliging courtesy.

Notes: The core sense in both languages centers on making someone happy or conforming to their wishes. In French, se complaire carries a distinct nuance of personally taking pleasure in something, whereas the English verb survives mainly as an historic or literary form rather than a living part of everyday usage.