From the verb ply 'to bend,' from Old French plier, from Latin plicare 'to fold' — pliers are literally 'bending tools.'
A hand tool with pivoted jaws, used for gripping, bending, or cutting wire and other materials.
From the verb ply (to bend, to fold), from Old French plier 'to fold, to bend,' from Latin plicare 'to fold.' The agent suffix -er plus the plural -s produces pliers — literally 'things that fold or bend.' The Latin plicare derives from PIE *plek- 'to plait, to weave.' Key roots: *plek- (Proto-Indo-European: "to plait, to weave, to fold").