placer

From place +‎ -er (agent noun suffix).

• IPA^(key): /ˈpleɪsə(ɹ)/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪsə(ɹ)

placer (plural placers)

1. One who places or arranges something.
   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Ægloga Secunda.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:

     Thou placer of plants both humble and tall

2. (slang) One who deals in stolen goods; a fence.^[1]
3. (gambling, in combination) A horse, etc. that finishes in a particular place in a race.

   a third-placer

• (one who places):
• (dealer in stolen goods): fence, receiver

From place +‎ -er (suffix apparently denoting association).

placer (plural placers)

1. (ethology, sheep, Australia, New Zealand) A lamb whose mother has died and which has transferred its attachment to an object, such as a bush or rock, in the locality.
   • 1951, Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, Problems of Infancy and Childhood, volume 4, page 101:

     This is a “placer” sheep, as it is called. The prerequisites to this condition are that the young sheep must be still nursing, but must have begun to nibble grass. It must be the young of a mother that has been somewhat isolated, away from the corral and away from the herd, by herself out on the prairie. Now, when the mother dies, the lamb remains close to the mother′s body […] .

   • 1971, American Society of Animal Science. Journal of Animal Science, Volume 32, Pages 601-1298, page 1281,

     In Australia “placer” lambs are also destroyed, for these too are of little use; they will return constantly to one place, not staying with the flock.

• cade, poddy
• imprinting

From American Spanish placer, from earlier placel, apparently from obsolete Portuguese placel.

• IPA^(key): /ˈplæsə(ɹ)/, /ˈpleɪsə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æsə(ɹ)
• Rhymes: -eɪsə(ɹ)

placer (not comparable)

1. (mining) alluvial; occurring in a deposit of sand or earth on a river-bed or bank, particularly with reference to precious metals such as gold or silver
   • 1995, Paul T. Craddock, Early Metal Mining and Production, page 110:

     Placer gold comes from the weathering of the primary veins releasing the gold to be transported by water action and concentrated in gravel or sand beds.

   • 2002, Philip Ball, The Elements: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, published 2004, page 46:

     Since time immemorial, people found that they could extract the gold from placer deposits by sifting the fine-grained material through a mesh: the technique of panning.

   • 2008, Tanyo Ravicz, Of Knives and Men: Alaskans, page 77:

     He still ran a placer mine in the Interior.

placer (plural placers)

1. A place where the superficial detritus is washed for gold, etc.
2. (by extension) Any place holding treasures.

• Placer County

• carpel, craple, parcel

From place +‎ -er.

• IPA^(key): /pla.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Homophones: placé, placés, placée, placées, placez, plaçai

placer

1. to place (to put in a specific location)
2. to seat (to put an object into a place where it will rest)
3. (reflexive) to place (to earn a given spot in a competition)

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

• → Danish: placere
• → German: platzieren
• → Romanian: plasa
• → Yiddish: אײַנפּלאַצירן (aynplatsirn)

• “placer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• claper

• IPA^(key): /plaˈtser/

placer (uncountable)

1. pleasure

placer

1. to please

plācer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of plācō

• IPA^(key): /plaˈθeɾ/ [plaˈθeɾ] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /plaˈseɾ/ [plaˈseɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: pla‧cer

Inherited from Latin placēre, with irregular conservation of initial /pl-/ (the expected form would be *llacer). Compare Portuguese prazer.

placer (first-person singular present plazco, first-person singular preterite plací, past participle placido)

1. (intransitive, used with indirect object pronouns) to like (something or someone)

   Synonym: gustar

   Esto me place mucho.

   I really like this.

   No me place comer.

   I don't like to eat.

   ¿Señor, le placería cerrar la puerta?

   Sir, would you mind closing the door?

   Me place el ruido.

   I like noise.

2. (literary) to please (somebody)

   Synonym: agradar

• The third-person forms with the stems plug- and pleg- (plugo, pluguiera, plega/plegue, pluguieron, pluguieran, etc.) are archaic. In modern literature they may be used in place of forms such as plació, plazca and placiera with the intention of recalling old-fashioned style.^[1]

placer m (plural placeres)

1. pleasure; something done to please

   Ha sido un placer conocerte.

   It was a pleasure to meet you.

   Es un placer saludarte.

   It's a pleasure to greet you.

Related to placel (“sandbank”), from plaza (“place”).

placer m (plural placeres)

1. (geology, mining) placer (place where the superficial detritus is washed for gold)

   Fuimos al placer.

   We went to the placer.

2. (nautical) sandbank

• “placer”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• percal