Etymograph

English

predacity

Predacity comes from Latin praedor ‘to acquire loot, such as through robbery or war’, and goes back to praeda.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraeda1‘plunder, booty, loot’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraedor2‘to acquire loot, such as through robbery or war’
  3. Englishtodaypredacity2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin praedor
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English predacity

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraedaWiktionary, Latin praedor‘plunder, booty, loot’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraedorWiktionary, English predacity‘to acquire loot, such as through robbery or war’
  3. EnglishtodaypredacityWiktionary, English predacity

Formed from -acity

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to find’

yet, guess, prison, surprise, prize, comprehensive, comprise, apprentice, comprehend, comprehension, apprehension, apprehensive, apprehend, reprehensible, reprieve, beget, impregnable, impresario, prehensile, 32 more

through Latin praedor ‘to acquire loot, such as through robbery or war’

prey, predation, 5 more

Today it means

noun The quality of being predaceous.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “predacity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin praedor. 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 praeda / predacity