Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Prey for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "Prey" — noun, pronounced /preɪ/, with the stress on "prey".
Narrator: Prey is an animal that is hunted and killed by another animal for food.
Narrator: In plain English, prey is the hunted one.
Narrator: It comes from the Old French preie, from the Latin praeda, booty.
Narrator: A common collocation is "birds of prey", which describes eagles, hawks and owls.
Narrator: It differs from "victim", because prey is mostly about animals and hunting.
Narrator: In a figurative sense, to fall prey to something means to be harmed or deceived by it.
Narrator: Ecology, wildlife documentaries, crime reporting and literature all rely on the word.
Narrator: So remember: prey is what the hunter chases.
Speaker A: What does "fall prey to scammers" mean?
Speaker B: Being tricked by them! PREY comes from the Latin praeda, meaning booty.
Speaker A: So the scammers are like predators?
Speaker B: Exactly.
Speaker A: Example sentences?
Speaker B: "Mice are prey for owls", nature. "The eagle is a bird of prey", a category. "Many fell prey to the scam", deception.
Speaker A: Common mistakes?
Speaker B: Do not confuse prey with pray; pray means to speak to God.
Speaker A: Close relatives?
Speaker B: Quarry is its hunting cousin, target is its twin, and victim is the human alternative, but prey keeps its wild charm!
Speaker B: Let's use "prey" in AI prompts — useful for wildlife apps and fraud awareness tools.
Speaker A: How would wildlife apps use it?
Speaker B: Link species.
Prompt: List the main prey of each British bird of prey in a table with habitat notes.
Speaker A: And fraud awareness?
Speaker B: Protect people.
Prompt: Write five tips to stop older people falling prey to phone scams.
Speaker A: Could it help simulations?
Speaker B: Yes, ecology models.
Prompt: Code a simulation where prey numbers rise and fall with predator numbers over twenty seasons.
Speaker A: One more?
Speaker B: Spell-checking.
Prompt: Flag sentences where prey is used but pray is probably meant.
Prey — meaning in Arabic & definition More P courses GL Dictionary