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Etymology and origin of the English word pry

Pronunciation

pry1 to peer, snoop

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1307 before 1350 (composed 1307), a political poem in Robbins's Historical Poems
Inherited from
Middle English prien

Etymology

The verb meaning to peer is inherited from Middle English prien,[2][3][4][5][6][7] of unknown origin.[8][9][10][11][12] The OED takes it as probably the reflex of an unattested Old English verb, apparently related to Old English beprīwan (“to wink”), itself of unknown origin, and compares pire and peer;[3] the MED, Barnhart, Etymonline and Weekley also compare the Old English verb.[2][5][4][13] Weekley adds prēowt-hwīl (“a moment, literally a winking while”).[13] Skeat derived it from Old French preer (“to pillage”), from Late Latin praedō (“to plunder”).[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

To look closely or curiously; to peer inquisitively or seek out secret things: before 1350, in a political poem of 1307.[3][5] About 1330 the Short Metrical Chronicle has He gan to prie & tvincke, pairing it with winking.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb meant to look about, peer, peep or gaze,[2] and Chaucer used it seven times, Gower three.[15] A transitive sense, to look for or examine closely, is recorded from about 1553 to 1658.[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as to peep narrowly or to inspect officiously, curiously or impertinently, quoting Shakespeare's Richard III,[12] and today it usually means to inquire into private matters, mostly with into.[6][10] A noun, a prying glance, followed in 1750, and a pry, an inquisitive person, in 1837, after Paul Pry.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 1307 – to look closely or inquisitively, to spy.[3][5]
  • c. 1553 – to examine closely (obsolete by 1658).[3]
  • 1750 – noun, an act of prying.[3][4]
  • 1837 – noun, an inquisitive person.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To look closely or with curiosity; to peer or peep: The neighbours pried through the gap in the fence.[6][10][3]
  2. To inquire impertinently into private matters, usually with into: He hated reporters prying into his marriage.[6][10]

Noun

  1. The act of prying.[10][8]
  2. An inquisitive person.[10][8][3]

Word family

  • prying
  • pryingly
  • pryer
  • prier

pry2 to lever

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1803 W. Clark's journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Ultimate origin
Latin prehendō

Etymology

The verb meaning to lever open is from English a back-formation from prise, also spelled prize, whose final consonant was taken as the -s of the third person singular present,[3][8][9][6][11] or it comes directly from the noun pry, a lever, itself apparently a back-formation from the noun prise taken as a plural.[3][6][7][4] The OED compares pea, formed the same way.[3] The lever noun, recorded from about 1400, is from Old French prise (“a taking hold, grasp”),[5][4] the noun use of the feminine past participle of prendre (“to take, seize”), from Latin prehendō (“to lay hold of, grasp”), formed from prae- (“before”) and the root of Proto-Indo-European *ghend- (“to seize, take”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, a lever or crowbar: 1803, in W. Clark's journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.[3][6] The verb follows in 1806, in Noah Webster's Compendious Dictionary;[3][6] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1823.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb was at first American and East Anglian:[3] Wright found it as the dialect form of prise in Suffolk and Essex,[16] and the Shorter Oxford calls it now dialectal and North American.[8] From 1896 it also meant to get something out with difficulty, perhaps influenced by pry out in the sense of the peering verb.[3][6]

Timeline

  • 1803 – noun, a lever or crowbar.[3][6]
  • 1806 – to raise, move or force open with a lever.[3][6] Barnhart and Etymonline date the verb to 1823.[5][4]
  • 1896 – to obtain or extract with difficulty.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To raise, move or force open with a lever; to prise: He pried the crate open with a screwdriver.[6][3][8]
  2. To get or extract with difficulty: The detectives finally pried a name out of him.[6][3]

Noun

  1. A tool for prying, such as a lever or crowbar.[6][8][3]
  2. Leverage.[6]

Word family

  • pry bar

Usage notes

Two other nouns pry, both of unknown origin, are regional plant names: the small-leaved lime, recorded from 1573,[3][8] and various sedges, from before 1600, now Scottish and northern.[3][8][16]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  16. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pry.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/pry. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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