Portray

How to spell portray

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce portray

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does portray mean?

1. verbTo represent or describe someone or something in a picture, in writing, or in a performance.

Portray in a sentence

• The documentary aims to portray rural life as it really is.

• The novel tries to portray the banker as a sympathetic figure.

Where does portray come from?

Language of origin: French

This verb came into English in the 1300s from the Old French portraire, which meant 'to draw, sketch, or depict'. That word traces back to the Latin protrahere, a compound of pro- meaning 'forth' and trahere meaning 'to draw' or 'to drag', so the literal idea was 'to draw forth' an image. Over time the sense narrowed from simply dragging something forward to the artistic act of representing a person or scene in a picture, and later to representing someone in words or performance. The same trahere root, 'to draw or pull', also underlies familiar English words such as 'tractor', 'attract', and 'portrait', the latter being a close cousin that ended in a hard 't' rather than the 'ay' sound. The spelling trap lies in that ending: the word looks as though it might finish in 'ai' like 'portrait', but it keeps the French-derived 'ay'.

How the word is built

• por- (forth, from Latin pro-)
• -tray (from traire/trahere: to draw, drag)