pray: [13] Latin precārī meant ‘ask for, entreat, pray’ (it has given English deprecate [17] and imprecation [16]). In Vulgar Latin it became *precāre, which passed into English via Old French preier. The noun prayer [13] goes back ultimately to the Latin adjective precārius ‘obtained by asking or praying’ (source also of English precarious), which was derived from precārī. => deprecate, imprecation, precarious
pray (v.)
early 13c., "ask earnestly, beg," also (c. 1300) "pray to a god or saint," from Old French preier "to pray" (c.900, Modern French prier), from Vulgar Latin *precare (also source of Italian pregare), from Latin precari "ask earnestly, beg, entreat," from *prex (plural preces, genitive precis) "prayer, request, entreaty," from PIE root *prek- "to ask, request, entreat" (cognates: Sanskrit prasna-, Avestan frashna- "question;" Old Church Slavonic prositi, Lithuanian prasyti "to ask, beg;" Old High German frahen, German fragen, Old English fricgan "to ask" a question).
Parenthetical expression I pray you, "please, if you will," attested from 1510s, contracted to pray 16c. Related: Prayed; praying. Praying mantis attested from 1809. The "Gardener's Monthly" of July 1861 lists other names for it as camel cricket, soothsayer, and rear horse.
雙語例句
1. We have a beautiful city and we pray it stays that way.
我們的城市很美麗，但願它能保持下去。
來自柯林斯例句
2. And what, pray, do you buy and sell, Major?
梅傑，請問，你都買賣些什麽？
來自柯林斯例句
3. One can only pray that the team's manager learns something from it.
大家也隻能希冀球隊教練從中汲取教訓。
來自柯林斯例句
4. She went to pray for the soul of her late husband.
她去為亡夫的靈魂祈禱。
來自柯林斯例句
5. His statement ended with the words: "Pray for me."