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Pray

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pray¹

  • /pɹeɪ/

Sounds like prey · Rhymes with -eɪ

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *preḱ-

Proto-Italic *preks

Latin prex

Latin precārī

Late Latin precāre

Old French proiier

Anglo-Norman preierbor.

Middle English preien

English pray

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.

verb prays · praying · prayed

  1. 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. Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca.
  2. To humbly beg a person for aid or their time.
  3. obsolete To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for. I know not how to pray your patience.
  4. To wish or hope strongly for a particular outcome. She is praying that the Red Sox will win tonight.
  5. obsolete To implore, to entreat, to request. They prayd him sit, and gave him for to feed Such homely what as serves the simple clowne, That doth despise the dainties of the towne[…]

pray²

Where it comes from

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

adverb

  1. archaic, formal, not comparable Please; used to make a polite request pray silence for…
  2. alternative, not comparable Alternative form of pray tell (“I ask you”).pray tell Shall I be moved to love you, pray, / By hints that I must soon decay? / No woman's won by being told / How quickly she is growing old[...]

Pray³

Where it comes from

* 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”).

proper noun Prays

  1. A surname.

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