Etymology

prayer

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Today it means: A practice of communicating with one's God, or with some spiritual entity. Full definition →

Middle English preiere ← Old French preiere ← Early Medieval Latin precāria
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prayer · noun1

  1. Latin · derived fromprecem
  2. Early Medieval Latin · derived fromprecāria
  3. Old French · derived frompreiere
  4. Middle English · inherited frompreiere
  5. English todayprayer

From Middle English preiere, from Old French preiere, from Early Medieval Latin precāria, derived from Latin precem. Displaced native Old English ġebed (whence modern English bead).

prayer · noun2

pray + -er.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.