Prey

How to spell prey

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce prey

What does prey mean?

1. nounAn animal hunted or killed by another for food.
2. verbTo hunt and kill for food, or to exploit and victimise someone.

Prey in a sentence

• noun

  The lioness stalked her prey across the dry grassland.

• verb

  Foxes prey on rabbits and field mice throughout the winter.

• noun

  Owls hunt at night and swoop silently on their prey.

• verb

  Con artists deliberately prey on lonely and vulnerable people.

Where does prey come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Prey came into English in the early 1200s from the Old French preie, meaning 'booty' or 'plunder', which in turn descended from the Latin praeda, the spoils or loot a hunter or soldier carried off. The Latin word is thought to come from prehendere, 'to grasp or seize', the same root that gives us 'apprehend' and 'comprehend'. The earliest English sense was simply plunder taken in war or a raid, and only later did it narrow to mean an animal hunted and eaten by another. The verb 'to prey on', meaning to hunt, harm, or exploit, grew out of that hunting image. Its identical-sounding cousin 'pray' has an entirely separate Latin parent, precari 'to beg or entreat', which is why the two words share a sound but never a spelling, and that overlap is the trap to watch.

How the word is built

• prey (from Latin praeda: booty, plunder, captured spoils)

Words that sound like prey

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• pray: To address a god or other higher power with worship, thanks, or a request; or to ask earnestly for something.