Etymograph

English

imprecate

Imprecate comes from Latin imprecātus ‘having invoked’, from precor ‘to beseech, beg, pray, entreat, supplicate,…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- ‘to ask’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*preḱ-1‘to ask’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*preks1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprex1‘prayer’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprecor1‘to beseech, beg, pray, entreat, supplicate, request’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimprecor2‘to invoke upon, pray to, call upon’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimprecātus2‘having invoked’perfect active participle of imprecor
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1851imprecate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin imprecor
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English imprecate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, Herman Melville, chapter 119: “To sailors, oaths are household words; they will swear…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*preḱ-Wiktionary, Latin imprecor‘to ask’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*preksWiktionary, Latin imprecorreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprexWiktionary, Latin imprecor‘prayer’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprecorWiktionary, Latin imprecor‘to beseech, beg, pray, entreat, supplicate, request’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimprecorWiktionary, English imprecate‘to invoke upon, pray to, call upon’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimprecātusWiktionary, English imprecate‘having invoked’perfect active participle of imprecor
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1851imprecateWiktionary, English imprecate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, Herman Melville, chapter 119: “To sailors, oaths are household words; they will swear…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- ‘to ask’

arrogant, arrogance, derogatory, prerogative, postulate, derogation, 25 more

through Latin prex ‘prayer’

prayer, pray, precarious, 9 more

through Latin precor ‘to beseech, beg, pray, entreat, supplicate,…’

deprecation, 7 more

Today it means

verb To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “imprecate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin imprecor. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- / imprecate

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