Predator

How to spell predator

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce predator

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does predator mean?

1. nounAn animal that survives by hunting, killing, and eating other animals.
2. nounA person who ruthlessly exploits or preys on others, especially the vulnerable.

Predator in a sentence

• The lion is the dominant predator on the savannah.

• The scheme was run by a financial predator who targeted retired investors.

• Removing the top predator from a food chain upsets the whole ecosystem.

• Police warned that the online predator had contacted several teenagers.

Where does predator come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin praedator, meaning 'a plunderer' or 'one who seizes booty', which was built on the verb praedari, 'to rob or to take as spoils'. That verb in turn rests on the noun praeda, meaning the prey, booty, or plunder taken in war or in a hunt. English adopted the term in the early 1900s for an animal that survives by hunting and eating other animals, though the older Latin sense of a human plunderer never fully disappeared. The same praeda root sits behind 'prey' and 'depredation', which is a clue to its meaning. The spelling trap is the unstressed ending, since the word ends in -or like other agent nouns (actor, creator) rather than the more common -er.

How the word is built

• praed- (from Latin praeda: prey, plunder)
• -ator (agent suffix: one who does)