Etymology

pray

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Today it means: To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc. Full definition →

Middle English preien ← Anglo-Norman preier ← Old French proiier
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pray · verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*preḱ-
  2. Proto-Italic*preks
  3. Latinprex
  4. Latinprecārī
  5. Late Latinprecāre
  6. Old Frenchproiier
  7. Anglo-Normanpreier
  8. Middle Englishpreien
  9. English todaypray

Inherited from Middle English preien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman preier, from Old French proiier, from Late Latin precāre, from Latin precārī, from prex (“request, petition, prayer”), from Proto-Italic *preks, from Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to request, ask”). Displaced native Old English gebiddan. Cognate via Indo-European of Old English frignan, fricgan, German fragen, Dutch vragen. Compare deprecate, imprecate, precarious.

pray · adverb2

Ellipsis of I pray you, I pray thee, whence also prithee.

Pray · proper noun3

  1. French · derived frompré“meadow”
  2. English todayPray

* As an Irish surname, variant of Prey, from ó Préith, a personal name from Old Irish. * As an English surname, borrowed (via Middle English) from French pré (“meadow”).

Words from the same roots

Frenchpré all →

pratt

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.