English → Latin
“prey” in Latin
praedaplunder, booty, pillage, spoils of war, property taken in war; prey, game taken in the hunt; gain, profitrapiōto snatch, grab, carry off, abduct, rape, steal; to snatch (oneself); take off, hurryAmmiānusa masculine praenomen, famously held bypraedorto acquire loot, such as through robbery or war; to pillage, plunder, despoil; to ravage, rob, takeagōto act, to behave; to do; to make (something that does not continue to exist after the maker stops)exedōto eat up, devour, consume; to corrodecōnsūmōto take wholly or completely; to consume, devour, waste, squander, use up; annihilate, destroy, bring to naught; to killabsūmōto diminish, take away, use up, consume, exhaust; to ruin, destroy, annihilate, corrupt; to kill
The English word prey itself goes back to Latin praedor, through praedō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
prey s.
praeda; raptum (booty). A bird of prey, avis rapax (Cic.): a beast of prey, bestia rapax (Plin.); bestia praedatrix (Ammianus).
prey v.
praedari: praedam or praedas facere or agere. To prey upon, exedere: consumere: absumere grief preys upon the mind, maeror exest animum planeque conficit.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for prey?
- The usual Latin words for “prey” are praeda, rapiō, Ammiānus; also praedor, agō, exedō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.