# pray

> English word · Verb · IPA /pɹeɪ/ · frequency rank #3,648

## Definitions
1. To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc.
2. To humbly beg a person for aid or their time.
3. To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for.
4. To wish or hope strongly for a particular outcome.
5. To implore, to entreat, to request.

## Etymology
From Middle English preien, from Anglo-Norman preier, from Old French preier, proier (French prier), from Latin precārī, from prex, precis (“a prayer, a request”), from Proto-Italic *preks, from Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to ask, woo”). Displaced native Old English gebiddan.
Cognate via Indo-European of Old English frignan, fricgan, German fragen, Dutch vragen. Compare deprecate, imprecate, precarious.

## Easily confused with
- **pro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-pro)
- **PSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-psa)
- **PRC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prc)
- **pry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-pry)
- **PTA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-pta)
- **PRS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prs)
- **prey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prey)
- **prep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prep)
- **pros** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-pros)
- **prom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prom)
- **prop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prop)
- **pres** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-pres)
- **prob** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prob)
- **prem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prem)
- **prod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prod)
- **proc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-proc)
- **prog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prog)
- **prim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prim)
- **puny** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-puny)
- **Prot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pray-vs-prot)

## Common misspellings (6)
`pary`, `ppray`, `prayy`, `prray`, `prya`, `rpay`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/pray