supplicate: [15] Someone who supplicates is etymologically ‘bending or folding up underneath’ – hence ‘kneeling down to pray’. The word comes from the past participle of Latin supplicāre, a compound verb formed from the prefix sub- ‘down, underneath’ and plicāre ‘fold’ (a relative of English fold). Also formed from sub- and the base *plic- was Latin supplex ‘bending under’, hence ‘submissive’, from which English gets supple [13]. => complicate, fold, ply, supple
supplicate (v.)
early 15c., "beg for, beseech," back-formation from supplication or else from Latin supplicatus, past participle of supplicare "plead humbly, beseech, kneel down." Related: Supplicated; supplicating.
