prey means that which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.
prey is pronounced /pɹeɪ/.
Why “prey” is a great word
A living creature that is hunted and killed by another for food, or the act of hunting such a creature. From Middle English preye, prei, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French preie, from Latin praeda ("booty, plunder, prey"), framing the captured not as a meal but as seized property. Unlike "quarry"—a word for the sport of the chase—or "victim"—a word for the casualty of a crime—"prey" is the fundamental term of the wild larder, the biological fact of consumption. It is the rabbit frozen in the hawk's shadow, the tremor of a fly ensnared in a web’s humid silk, the slow turn of a shark’s eye locking onto a flickering fish—the quiet currency of all that breathes, the ancient transaction where one life continues only because another ends.
Etymology
From Middle English preye, prei, preyȝe, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French preie, one of the variants of proie, from Latin praeda. Compare predator. Doublet of prede.
noun
- That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.e.g.“The deer became prey to the lion.”
- A person or thing given up as a victim.e.g.“[The helmsman] steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk […]”
- A living thing, usually an animal, that is eaten by another living thing.e.g.“The rabbit was eaten by the coyote, so the rabbit is the coyote's prey.”
- Anything, such as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; something taken by force from an enemy in war.
- The act of devouring other creatures; ravage.e.g.“Hog in sloth, fox in stealth, […] lion in prey.”
- The victim of a disease.e.g.“He became the prey of dengue.”
verb
- To act as a predator.e.g.“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 […]”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.