pliers

Pliers comes from the verb ply, meaning "to bend," plus the agent suffix -er ("one that does the action") and the plural -s.

The word stayed close to its roots: a thing built to ply, or bend, material became the name for the tool itself, used in the plural like scissors or tongs.

It shares its root with ply itself, the verb meaning to bend or fold, which sits at the base of the whole word.