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 CEprex1as precem‘prayer’
- Early Medieval Latinmodernprecāria1
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400preiere1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500preiere1
- Englishearliest quotation 1918prayer1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English prayer
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1918, William Babington Maxwell, Indianapolis: “Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprexWiktionary, English prayeras precem‘prayer’
- Early Medieval LatinmodernprecāriaWiktionary, English prayer
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400preiereWiktionary, English prayer
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500preiereWiktionary, English prayer
- Englishearliest quotation 1918prayerWiktionary, English prayer. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 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.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “prayer”. 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 / Latin prex / prayer