prayer

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English preiere, from Old French preiere, from Early Medieval Latin precāria, derived from Latin precem. Displaced native Old English ġebed.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ), -eɪə(ɹ)

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

• arrow prayer
• call to prayer
• dawn prayer
• evening prayer
• friday prayer
• house of prayer
• morning prayer
• not have a prayer
• on a wing and a prayer
• prayer bead
• prayer beads
• prayer book
• prayer bump
• prayer card
• prayer circle
• prayer flag
• prayer for relief
• prayer mat
• prayer meeting
• prayer mill
• prayer-monger
• prayer plant
• prayer room
• prayer rope
• prayer rug
• prayer shawl
• Prayers of the People
• prayer wheel
• psychic prayer
• sinner's prayer
• sunset prayer
• the answer to a maiden's prayer
• wing and prayer

 

Translations

practice of communicating with one's God

• Adyghe: дыухьэ (dəwuḥɛ)
• Afrikaans: gebed (af)
• 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 (duʕa)

• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܨܠܘܬܐ f (ṣəlōṯā)

  Jewish Aramaic: צְלוֹתָא f (ṣəlôṯā)

• Armenian: աղոթք (hy) (aġotʻkʻ)
• Assamese: প্ৰাৰ্থনা (prarthona)
• Asturian: oración f
• Avar: дугӏа (duʻa)
• Azerbaijani: dua (az), namaz (az)
• Balinese: mantra, japa, saa
• Bashkir: доға (doğa), намаҙ (namaź)
• Basque: otoitz (eu), otoi
• Belarusian: малі́тва (be) f (malítva)
• Bengali: প্রার্থনা (bn) (prarthona), নামাজ (bn) (namaj), সালাত (bn) (śalat), দোয়া (bn) (dōẇa)
• Bikol Central: pangadyi (bcl)
• Bulgarian: моли́тва (bg) f (molítva)
• Burmese: ပတ္ထနာ (my) (pathta.na)
• Carpathian Rusyn: молитва f (molytva)
• 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)

  Hokkien: 祈禱 / 祈祷 (zh-min-nan) (kî-tó)

  Mandarin: 祈禱 / 祈祷 (zh) (qídǎo)

• 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), सलात (hi) f (salāt) (Islam)
• Hungarian: ima (hu)
• Icelandic: bæn (is) f
• Indonesian: sembahyang (id), salat (id), solat (id)
• Ingrian: malitva, rissimä (obsolete)
• Ingush: дуӏа (duˀa)
• 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 (ja) (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 (ckb) (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
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: Gebiet n
• Macedonian: молитва (mk) f (molitva)
• Maguindanao: cadsambayang
• Malay: sembahyang, solat (ms)
• Malayalam: പ്രാർത്ഥന (ml) (prāṟtthana)
• Maori: karakia
• Maranao: sambayang
• Marwari: गुजारिस (gujāris)
• Minangkabau: doa (min)
• Mon: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: залбирал (mn) (zalbiral)

  Mongolian: ᠵᠠᠯᠪᠠᠷᠢᠯ (ǰalbaril)

• 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
• Odia: ପ୍ରାର୍ଥନା (prārthanā)
• Ojibwe: anami'ewin
• Okinawan: かみにげー (kaminigē), 御願 (うぐゎん, ugwan)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: молитва f (molitva)

  Glagolitic: ⰿⱁⰾⰻⱅⰲⰰ f (molitva)

• Old East Slavic: молитва f (molitva)
• Old English: ġebed n
• Oromo: kadhata
• Ottoman Turkish: دعا (duʼâ), نماز (namâz)
• Pannonian Rusyn: молитва f (molitva)
• Pashto: لمونځ (ps) m (lmunz), صلات m (salāt), دعا (ps) f (do'ā)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: نَماز (namâz), دُعا (do'â), صَلات (salât)

• Piedmontese: orassion f
• Plautdietsch: Jebäd n
• Polish: modlitwa (pl) f, modły (pl) f pl
• Portuguese: oração (pt), prece (pt), reza (pt)
• Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਾਰਥਨਾ (prārthanā)
• 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
• Sotho: thapelo (st)
• Southern Altai: мӧргӱ (mörgü), кудай сӧзӱ (kuday sözü)
• Spanish: oración (es) f, rezo (es) m, plegaria (es) f
• Swahili: swala (sw)
• Swedish: bön (sv) c
• Tagalog: dasal (tl)
• Tai Nüa: please add this translation if you can
• Tajik: намоз (tg) (namoz), дуъо (tg) (duʾo), дуо (tg) (duo), салот (salot)
• 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)
• Tigrinya: ጸሎት (ṣälot)
• Tok Pisin: prea
• Turkish: dua (tr), namaz (tr)
• Turkmen: dileg, doga, namaz
• Ugaritic: 𐎕𐎍𐎚 (ṣlt)
• Ukrainian: моли́тва (uk) f (molýtva)
• Urdu: نَماز (ur) f (namāz), دُعا f (du'ā), صَلات f (salāt)
• Uyghur: ناماز (ug) (namaz), دۇئا (du'a)
• Uzbek: duo (uz), namoz (uz), salot (uz) (dated)
• Venetan: 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

• Afrikaans: bid (af)
• Albanian: lutje (sq)
• Arabic: صَلَاة f (ṣalāh)
• Armenian: աղոթք (hy) (aġotʻkʻ)
• Bashkir: доға (doğa)
• Basque: otoitzaldi, otoitz (eu)
• Bulgarian: моли́тва (bg) f (molítva)
• Catalan: rés (ca) m
• Czech: modlitba (cs) f, modlení (cs) n
• Danish: bøn (da) c
• 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 (hu), imádság (hu), fohászkodás (hu)
• Irish: guí f, urnaí m

  Old Irish: guide f

• Japanese: 祈り (ja) (いのり, inori)
• Judeo-Italian: אוּרַאצִיאוֹנַה f (ʾuraṣiʾonah /⁠uraziona⁠/)
• 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
• Ottoman Turkish: دعا (duʼâ), نماز (namâz)
• Pashto: لمونځ (ps) m (lmunz)
• Plautdietsch: Jebäd n
• Polish: modlitwa (pl) f, modły (pl) f pl
• Portuguese: oração (pt) f, reza (pt) f
• Romanian: rugăciune (ro)
• Romansch: uraziun f
• Russian: моли́тва (ru) f (molítva)
• Scottish Gaelic: ùrnaigh f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мо̀литва f

  Roman: mòlitva (sh) f

• Slovene: molitev (sl) f
• Sotho: ho rapela
• Spanish: rezo (es) m
• Swahili: swali (sw)
• Swedish: bön (sv)
• Turkish: dua (tr)
• Yiddish: תּפֿילה f (tfile)

the specific words or methods used for praying

• Afrikaans: gebed (af)
• Arabic: صَلَاة f (ṣalāh)
• Armenian: աղոթք (hy) (aġotʻkʻ)
• 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 (hu)
• Irish: paidir f
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دوعا (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

• Ottoman Turkish: دعا (duʼâ), نماز (namâz)
• 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:

  Cyrillic: мо̀литва f

  Roman: mòlitva (sh) f

• Slovene: molitev (sl) f
• Sotho: mantswe a thapelo
• Spanish: oración (es) f, rezo (es) m, preces f pl
• 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

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

  Central Kurdish: نوێژ (ckb) (nwêj)

  Northern Kurdish: nivêj (ku) f

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

  Bokmål: 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
• Sotho: kopano ya thapelo
• Swedish: bön (sv), förbön (sv)
• Turkish: dua (tr)

a request; a petition

• Afrikaans: bede (af)
• Bulgarian: молба́ (bg) f (molbá)
• 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:

  Cyrillic: мо̀лба f

  Roman: mòlba (sh) f

• Sotho: kopo
• 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

• 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
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} rugăciune (ro) f, ^{(please verify)} rugăciuni f pl
• 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 (Southern England):

    (file)

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

Noun

prayer (plural prayers)

1. One who prays.
   • 1974, Shel Silverstein, “Invitation”, in 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

• Afrikaans: bidder
• Arabic: مُصَلٍّ m (muṣallin)
• Basque: otoizlari, otoizgile
• Bengali: মুসল্লি (bn) (muśolli), নামাজী (namaji) (Islam)
• 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
• Sotho: mothapeli
• Spanish: orador (es) m, oradora f, orante m or f
• Swedish: bedjare c, förbedjare c
• Turkish: duacı (tr)