prayer

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English preiere, from Anglo-Norman preiere, from Old French priere, proiere, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin precāria, feminine of Latin precārius (“obtained by entreaty”), from precor (“beg, entreat”). Displaced native Old English ġebed.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹɛə(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: prâr, prāʹər, IPA^(key): /pɹɛɚ/, /ˈpɹeɪəɹ/, /ˈpɹɛɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ), -eɪə(ɹ), -ɛɹ

Noun

prayer (countable and uncountable, plural prayers)

1. (uncountable) A practice of communicating with one's God, or with some spiritual entity.

   Through prayer I ask for God's guidance.

   In many cultures, prayer involves singing.

2. (countable) An act of praying.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […] , down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

   • 2020 December, Dave Barry, "Year in review":

     In that spirit, we’ll close with the wish we always offer at the end of our annual review, although this time it’s more of a prayer: Happy new year.

3. The specific words or methods used for praying.

   Christians recite the Lord's Prayer.

   For Baha'is there's a difference between obligatory and devotional prayer.

4. A meeting held for the express purpose of praying.

   Grandpa never misses a chance to go to prayer.

5. (countable) A request; a petition.

   This, your honor, is my prayer; that all here be set free.

6. (in the singular, mostly in negative constructions) The remotest hope or chance.

   That team doesn't have a prayer of winning the championship.

Synonyms

• orison, precation
• bead (archaic)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• friday prayer
• not have a prayer
• prayer book
• prayer meeting
• prayer wheel
• psychic prayer

Translations

practice of communicating with one's God

• Adyghe: дыухьэ (dəwuḥe)
• Albanian: lutje (sq)
• Amharic: ጸሎት (ṣälot)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: ʼokąąhí

• Arabic: صَلَاة‎ f (ṣalāh), دُعَاء‎ m (duʕāʔ)

  Egyptian Arabic: صلا‎ f (ṣála)

  Hijazi Arabic: صلاة‎ f (ṣalā), دُعا‎ m (duʿa)

• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܨܠܘܬܐ‎ f (ṣəlōṯā)

  Jewish Aramaic: צְלוֹתָא‎ f (ṣəlôṯā)

• Armenian: աղոթք (hy) (ałotʿkʿ)
• Assamese: প্ৰাৰ্থনা (prarthona)
• Asturian: oración f
• Avar: дугӏа (duʻa)
• Azerbaijani: dua (az), namaz (az)
• Balinese: mantra, japa, saa
• Bashkir: доға (doğa), намаҙ (namað)
• Basque: otoitz (eu), otoi
• Belarusian: малі́тва (be) f (malítva)
• Bengali: নামাজ (bn) (namaz), সালাত (bn) (salat), দোয়া (bn) (dōẏa), প্রার্থনা (bn) (prarthona)
• Bikol Central: pangadyi (bcl)
• Bulgarian: моли́тва (bg) f (molítva)
• Burmese: ပတ္ထနာ (my) (pathta.na)
• Catalan: oració (ca), pregària (ca)
• Central Dusun: samb̲ayang
• Chakma: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 祈禱／祈祷 (kei⁴ tou²)

  Dungan: дўвар (dwvar)

  Mandarin: 祈禱／祈祷 (zh) (qídǎo)

  Min Nan: 祈禱／祈祷 (zh-min-nan) (kî-tó)

• Chuvash: кӗлӗ (kĕlĕ)
• Czech: modlitba (cs) f
• Danish: bøn (da) c
• Dhivehi: ނަމާދު‎ (namādu)
• Dutch: gebed (nl) n
• Egyptian: (zšꜣ), (nḥ)
• Estonian: palve
• Faroese: bøn f
• Finnish: rukous (fi), rukoileminen (fi)
• French: prière (fr) f
• Friulian: preiere f, orazion, jaculatorie
• Galician: oración (gl) f, orazón f
• Georgian: ლოცვა (locva)
• German: Gebet (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐌳𐌰 f (bida), (request) 𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍂𐍉𐌽𐍃 f (aihtrōns)
• Greek: προσευχή (el) f (prosefchí)

  Ancient: εὐχή f (eukhḗ)

• Gujarati: પ્રાર્થના (prārthanā)
• Hausa: salla (ha)
• Hebrew: תפילה \ תְּפִלָּה‎ (he) f (t'filá)
• Hindi: प्रार्थना (hi) m (prārthanā), नमाज़ f (namāz) (Islam), दुआ (hi) f (duā)
• Hungarian: ima (hu)
• Indonesian: sembahyang (id), salat (id), solat (id)
• Ingrian: malitva
• Iranun: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: guí f, urnaí m

  Old Irish: guide f

• Italian: preghiera (it) f, orazione (it) f, prece (it)
• Japanese: 祈り (いのり, inori), 祈祷 (ja) (きとう, kitō)
• Javanese: please add this translation if you can
• Kannada: ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥನೆ (kn) (prārthane)
• Kazakh: бата (kk) (bata), намаз (namaz), дұға (dūğa), мінәжат (mınäjat)
• Khmer: ធម៌ (km) (thɔə)
• Korean: 기도(祈禱) (ko) (gido), 빔 (bim)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نوێژ‎ (ku) (nwêj)

  Northern Kurdish: nivêj (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: дуба (ky) (duba), намаз (ky) (namaz)
• Ladin: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: ພາວະນາ (phā wa nā), ອະຖິຖານ (ʼa thi thān)
• Latin: prex f, precatio f
• Latvian: lūgšana (lv) f
• Lezgi: дуьа (düa)
• Ligurian: preghëa f
• Lithuanian: malda (lt) f
• Lombard: orazión f
• Luxembourgish: Gebiet n
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: молитва (mk) f (molitva)
• Maguindanao: cadsambayang
• Malay: sembahyang, solat (ms)
• Malayalam: പ്രാർത്ഥന (ml) (prāṟtthana)
• Maori: karakia
• Maranao: sambayang
• Minangkabau: doa
• Mon: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: залбирал (mn) (zalbiral)

• Navajo: sodizin
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: priéthe f
• Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can
• Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bønn (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: bønn f

• Occitan: prèga
• Ojibwe: anami'ewin
• Okinawan: かみにげー (kaminigē), 御願 (うぐゎん, ugwan)
• Old English: ġebed n
• Oriya: ପ୍ରାର୍ଥନା (prarthôna)
• Oromo: kadhata
• Pashto: لمونځ‎ (ps) m (lmunz), صلات‎ m (salãt), دعا‎ (ps) f (do'ã)
• Persian: نماز‎ (fa) (namâz), دعا‎ (fa) (do'â)
• Piedmontese: orassion f
• Plautdietsch: Jebäd n
• Polish: modlitwa (pl) f, modły (pl) f pl
• Portuguese: oração (pt), prece (pt), reza (pt)
• Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਾਰਥਨਾ (prārthanā)
• Rajasthani: गुजारिस (gujāris)
• Rohingya: dua
• Romagnol: urazion
• Romanian: rugăciune (ro) f
• Romansch: uraziun, oraziun, uraztgùn, urazchun
• Russian: моли́тва (ru) f (molítva), нама́з (ru) m (namáz) (Islam)
• Sanskrit: प्रार्थना (sa) (prārthanā)
• Scottish Gaelic: ùrnaigh f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мо̀литва f

  Roman: mòlitva (sh) f

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Sherpa: please add this translation if you can
• Sicilian: prijera f
• Sindhi: نماز‎
• Slovak: modlitba f
• Slovene: molitev (sl) f
• Southern Altai: мӧргӱ (mörgü), намаз (namaz)
• Spanish: oración (es) f
• Swahili: swala (sw)
• Swedish: bön (sv)
• Tagalog: dasal (tl)
• Tai Nüa: please add this translation if you can
• Tajik: намоз (tg) (namoz), дуъо (tg) (duʾo), дуо (tg) (duo)
• Tamil: பிரார்த்தனை (ta) (pirārttaṉai)
• Tatar: намаз (tt) (namaz), дога (doğa)
• Telugu: ప్రార్థన (te) (prārthana)
• Thai: อธิษฐาน (th) (à-tít-tǎan), สวดมนต์ (sùuat-mon), ภาวนา (th) (paa-wá-naa)
• Tibetan: བཀའ་བསྒོ (bka' bsgo)
• Tok Pisin: prea
• Turkish: dua (tr), namaz (tr)
• Turkmen: dileg, doga, namaz
• Ugaritic: 𐎕𐎍𐎚 (ṣlt)
• Ukrainian: моли́тва (uk) f (molýtva)
• Urdu: نماز‎ (ur) f (namāz), دعا‎ f (du'ā)
• Uyghur: ناماز‎ (ug) (namaz), دۇئا‎ (du'a)
• Uzbek: duo (uz), namoz (uz)
• Venetian: orassión f
• Vietnamese: kinh cầu nguyện (經求願), kinh nguyện (經願), ý nguyện (意願)
• Waray-Waray: pa-nga-di, pa-nga-dji
• Welsh: gweddi (cy) f
• Yiddish: תּפֿילה‎ f (tfile)
• Zazaki: duwa
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

the act of praying

• Albanian: lutje (sq)
• Arabic: صَلَاة‎ f (ṣalāh)
• Armenian: աղոթք (hy) (ałotʿkʿ)
• Bashkir: доға (doğa)
• Basque: otoitzaldi, otoitz (eu)
• Bulgarian: моли́тва (bg) f (molítva)
• Catalan: rés (ca) m
• Czech: modlitba (cs) f, modlení (cs) n
• Dutch: gebed (nl) n, bidden (nl) n
• Egyptian: (zšꜣ), (nḥ)
• Esperanto: preĝo
• Finnish: rukoileminen (fi)
• German: Gebet (de) n
• Greek: προσευχή (el) f (prosefchí)

  Ancient: εὐχή f (eukhḗ)

• Hungarian: imádkozás, imádság (hu), fohászkodás
• Irish: guí f, urnaí m

  Old Irish: guide f

• Japanese: 祈り (いのり, inori)
• Kazakh: бата (kk) (bata)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نوێژ کردن‎ (nwêj kirdin)

• Latin: precatio f
• Macedonian: молитва (mk) f (molitva), молење n (molenje)
• Malayalam: പ്രാർത്ഥന (ml) (prāṟtthana)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bønn (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: bønn f

• Old English: ġebed n
• Pashto: لمونځ‎ (ps) m (lmunz)
• Plautdietsch: Jebäd n
• Polish: modlitwa (pl) f, modły (pl) f pl
• Portuguese: oração (pt) f, reza (pt) f
• Romansch: uraziun f
• Romanian: rugăciune (ro)
• Russian: моли́тва (ru) f (molítva)
• Scottish Gaelic: ùrnaigh f
• Serbo-Croatian: moliti (sh) f
• Slovene: molitev (sl) f
• Swahili: swali (sw)
• Swedish: bön (sv)
• Turkish: dua (tr)
• Yiddish: תּפֿילה‎ f (tfile)

the specific words or methods used for praying

• Arabic: صَلَاة‎ f (ṣalāh)
• Armenian: աղոթք (hy) (ałotʿkʿ)
• Bashkir: доға (doğa)
• Bulgarian: молитва (bg) f (molitva)
• Czech: modlitba (cs) f
• Dutch: gebed (nl) n
• Finnish: rukous (fi)
• French: prière (fr) f
• German: Gebet (de) n
• Greek: προσευχή (el) f (prosefchí)
• Hungarian: ima (hu), imádság (hu), fohász
• Irish: paidir f
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دوعا‎ (ku) (du'a)

  Northern Kurdish: dua (ku) f

• Latin: precatio f
• Macedonian: молитва (mk) f (molitva)
• Malayalam: പ്രാർത്ഥന (ml) (prāṟtthana)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bønn (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: bønn f

• Pashto: لمونځ‎ (ps) m (lmunz)
• Polish: modlitwa (pl) f
• Portuguese: oração (pt) f, reza (pt) f
• Romagnol: urazion
• Russian: моли́тва (ru) f (molítva)
• Scottish Gaelic: ùrnaigh f
• Serbo-Croatian: molitva (sh) f
• Slovene: molitev (sl) f
• Spanish: oración (es) f
• Swahili: swala (sw), sala (sw) class 9/10
• Swedish: bön (sv)
• Turkish: dua (tr)
• Ukrainian: молитва (uk) f (molytva), пацєр (pacjer)
• Welsh: gweddi (cy) f

a meeting held for the express purpose of praying

• Bulgarian: молебен m (moleben)
• Finnish: rukoushetki
• French: prières (fr) f pl
• German: Gottesdienst (de) m
• Greek: προσευχή (el) f (prosefchí), συμπροσευχή f (symprosefchí)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نوێژ‎ (ku) (nwêj)

  Northern Kurdish: nivêj (ku) f

• Macedonian: молитва (mk) f (molitva)
• Malayalam: പ്രാർത്ഥന (ml) (prāṟtthana)
• Norwegian: bønnemøte n
• Polish: modlitwa (pl) f, modły (pl) f pl
• Portuguese: missa (pt), culto (pt)
• Romanian: serviciu divin (ro) n, slujbă religioasă f
• Russian: моле́бен (ru) m (molében)
• Scottish Gaelic: ùrnaigh f
• Slovene: molitev (sl) f
• Swedish: bön (sv), förbön
• Turkish: dua (tr)

a request; a petition

• Bulgarian: молба (bg) f (molba)
• Czech: prosba (cs) f
• Dutch: bede (nl)
• Finnish: pyyntö (fi)
• French: prière (fr) f
• Greek: προσευχή (el) f (prosefchí), ικεσία (el) f (ikesía)
• Macedonian: молба f (molba)
• Marathi: प्रार्थना (prārthanā)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bønn (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: bønn f

• Polish: pragnienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: petição (pt) f, prece (pt) f
• Russian: мольба́ (ru) f (molʹbá)
• Scottish Gaelic: ùrnaigh f
• Serbo-Croatian: molba (sh) f
• Swedish: bön (sv)
• Welsh: gweddi (cy) f, erfyniad m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ⦃⦃t¦ar¦صَلَاة¦f¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦⦄⦄
• Ewe: ^{(please verify)} gbedodoɖa
• German: (1,3,4) ^{(please verify)} Gebet (de) n, (2) ^{(please verify)} Beten (de) n, (5) ^{(please verify)} Prediger (de) m
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 빌기 (bilgi)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} lava (ku) f

• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} talba f
• Old English: ^{(please verify)} ġebed
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} نماز‎ (fa) (namâz)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} rugăciune (ro) f, ^{(please verify)} rugăciuni f pl
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} молитва f, ^{(please verify)} молба f

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} molitva (sh) f, ^{(please verify)} molba (sh) f

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} molitva (sh) f, ^{(please verify)} molba (sh) f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} rezo (es), ^{(please verify)} oración (es)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} bön (sv)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ప్రార్థన (te) (prārthana) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Etymology 2

pray +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹeɪə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) enPR: prāʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹeɪəɹ/
• Rhymes: -eɪə(ɹ)

Noun

prayer (plural prayers)

1. One who prays.
   • 1974, Shel Silverstein, “Invitation”, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Harper Collins Publishers:

     If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar / A hope-er^[sic], a pray-er^[sic], a magic bean buyer…

   • 2012, Paul O'Connor, Islam in Hong Kong: Muslims and Everyday Life in China's World City

     Out of the 37 respondents, seven are infrequent prayers who prefer to leave the precise details of their prayer life ambiguous.

Translations

one who prays

• Arabic: مُصَلٍّ‎ m (muṣallin)
• Basque: otoizlari, otoizgile
• Bengali: মুসল্লি (bn) (musolli), নামাজী (namazī)
• Bulgarian: молещ се (molešt se)
• Czech: modlitel m, modlitelka f
• German: Beter (de) m, Beterin (de) f
• Greek: προσευχόμενος (el) m (prosefchómenos)
• Italian: pregatore m, pregatrice f
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نوێژکەر‎ (nwêjker)

• Portuguese: orador (pt) m, oradora f, rezador m, rezadora f
• Spanish: orador (es) m, oradora f, orante m or f
• Swedish: bedjare c, förbedjare c
• Turkish: duacı (tr)