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.
实用例句
1. We have a beautiful city and we pray it stays that way.
我们的城市很美丽，但愿它能保持下去。
来自柯林斯例句
2. And what, pray, do you buy and sell, Major?
梅杰，请问，你都买卖些什么？
来自柯林斯例句
3. One can only pray that the team's manager learns something from it.
大家也只能希冀球队教练从中汲取教训。
来自柯林斯例句
4. She went to pray for the soul of her late husband.
她去为亡夫的灵魂祈祷。
来自柯林斯例句
5. His statement ended with the words: "Pray for me."
