Pliable comes from Old French pliable ('flexible'), from plier ('to bend, fold'), from Latin plicare ('to fold'). The form is best read as a historical transfer or inheritance, with its older language material carrying the main semantic load. As an adjective, it carries the sense "easily bent without breaking; easily influenced", with the older formation still helping explain the modern use. Relevant historical forms include Old French pliable, Latin plicare, and Proto-Indo-European *plek-. Derivative forms include pliably, pliability, pliableness; related words include pliant, pliancy, ply, apply.