prey

Pronunciation

• IPA: /preɪ/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French preie (“booty, an animal taken in the chase”) (modern proie),^[2][3][4] from Latin praeda (“booty, plunder, game”),^[2][3][5] usually taken as a contraction of *praehēda, from prae, before, and a root meaning to seize,^[2][4] related to prehendere, to grasp (see prehensile).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A company of men, an army: about 1225, in King Horn;^[2] booty or goods taken in war, about 1250 in the OED;^[6] an animal hunted for food, about 1250 in Barnhart, before 1240 in the OED.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

A victim of a hostile influence (to fall prey to) is from about 1325.^[6][4] In religious writing, prey could also be souls captured by Satan.^[3] The verb, to plunder or pillage, is from about 1300,^[2][3] partly from Old French preer, Late Latin praedāre,^[3] and to hunt and kill for food developed later.^[2][7] Beast of prey and bird of prey are fixed phrases.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – an army.^[2]
• c. 1250 – booty; an animal hunted.^[6][2]
• c. 1300 – to prey, plunder (verb).^[2][3]
• c. 1325 – a victim.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An animal hunted or killed by another for food; quarry.
2. A person or thing that becomes a victim: to fall prey to fraud.
3. (archaic) Booty or plunder.

Verb

1. To hunt and kill for food, with on or upon.
2. To take advantage of or exploit others.
3. To weigh heavily on: worries preyed on his mind.

Word family

• preyer
• beast of prey
• bird of prey

Related words

• predator
• predatory
• depredation
• prehensile
• prison

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins