different between prey vs prex

English

Etymology

From Middle English preye, prei, prey?e, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French preie, one of the variants of proie, from Latin praeda. Compare predator.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pr?, IPA^(key): /p?e?/
• Rhymes: -e?
• Homophone: pray

Noun

prey (countable and uncountable, plural preys)

1. (archaic) Anything, such as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; something taken by force from an enemy in war

   Synonyms: spoil, booty, plunder
2. That which is or may be seized by animals or birds to be devoured

   • Already sees herself the monster's prey.

3. A person or thing given up as a victim.
4. A living thing that is eaten by another living thing.

5. (archaic) The act of devouring other creatures; ravage.
6. The victim of a disease.

Translations

Verb

prey (third-person singular simple present preys, present participle preying, simple past and past participle preyed)

1. (intransitive) To act as a predator.
   • 2001, Karen Harden McCracken, The Life History of a Texas Birdwatcher (page 278)

     The ridge had been a haven for birds and small earth creatures, creeping, crawling, and hopping in a little world of balanced ecology where wild things preyed and were preyed upon […]

Related terms

• prey on

References

• prey in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• pyre, rype

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?ks

Etymology 1

From US college slang; from 1828.

Noun

prex (plural prexes)

1. (US, college slang) A president, especially of a university.

Synonyms

• (president, especially of a university): prexy

Etymology 2

Noun

prex (plural prexes)

1. Prefix.

References

Anagrams

• XPer

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *pre?- (“to request, ask”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /preks/, [p??ks?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /preks/, [p??ks]

Noun

prex f (genitive precis); third declension

1. prayer; request
2. entreaty

Declension

• The nominative singular, prex, and genitive singular, precis, are unattested in Classical Latin.

Third-declension noun.

Derived terms

• prec?rius
• precor

Related terms

• proc?
• procor
• proc?x

Descendants

• Portuguese: prece
• English: prayer

References

• prex in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• prex in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• prex in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• prex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.