English
prayer
Prayer comes from Middle English preiere, from Old French preiere, from Early Medieval Latin precāria, derived from Latin prex ‘prayer’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprexas precem‘prayer’
- Early Medieval Latinmodernprecāria
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400preiere
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500preiere
- Englishearliest quotation 1918prayer
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprexas precem‘prayer’
- Early Medieval Latinmodernprecāria
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400preiere
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500preiere
- Englishearliest quotation 1918prayer
Earliest quotation: 1918, William Babington Maxwell, Indianapolis: “Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- ‘to request, ask’
arrogant, arrogance, derogatory, prerogative, postulate, derogation, 27 more
through Latin prex
Today it means
noun A practice of communicating with one's God, or with some spiritual entity.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin prex / prayer