pregar

Inherited from Old Catalan pregar, from Latin precārī.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pɾəˈɣa]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pɾeˈɣaɾ]

pregar (first-person singular present prego, first-person singular preterite preguí, past participle pregat); root stress: (Central, Valencia, Balearic) /e/

1. to pray, ask humbly (to a person)
2. to pray (to God)

• In its religious sense, the verb pregar is now less common than resar, especially when speaking of non-Christian religions.

• pregadeu

• “pregar”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “pregar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “pregar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “pregar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Old Galician-Portuguese pregar, a semi-learned borrowing from Latin plicāre (“to fold”). See also chegar, an inherited doublet.

• Rhymes: -aɾ

pregar (first-person singular present prego, first-person singular preterite preguei, past participle pregado)

1. (transitive) to fold
2. (transitive, dated) to nail
3. (of fire) to fire, burn

• preganza

From Old Galician-Portuguese pregar (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Vulgar Latin *precāre, from Latin precārī.

• Rhymes: -aɾ

pregar (first-person singular present prego, first-person singular preterite preguei, past participle pregado)

1. to request
2. to pray (to God)

• pregaria

From Old Galician-Portuguese preegar, from Latin praedicāre (“to proclaim”). Doublet of predicar.

• Rhymes: -aɾ

pregar (first-person singular present prego, first-person singular preterite preguei, past participle pregado)

1. (archaic) to preach; to proclaim
   • 1390, J. L. Pensado Tomé, editor, Os Miragres de Santiago, Madrid: C.S.I.C., page 47:

     Quando aquel Ihesus, meu señor, ya por la terras preegar, eu avia de moy grãde amor et soydade de veer a sua façe et quigi mãdar pintar a semelança do seu rrostro, que era a mays fremosa criatura do mũdo, en hũu pano por fillar cõ ela prazer et cõforto quando o vise; et querendoo fazer cõteyllo todo, et el pediome o pano et posoo ẽna sua cara et doumo encayado cõ tal figura cal era o seu santo rrostro;

     When that Jesus, my Lord, was going about the lands preaching, I had, because of how big was my love, longing for seeing His face; and I wanted to order a paint after His face, which was the most beautiful creation in the world, in a cloth, for having joy and confort whenever I saw it; and wanting to do it I told him, and He asked me for the cloth, put it on His face and gave it back to me stuck with a figure that was no other than His holy face;

• pregador

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “pregar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “preegar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “preg”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “preeg”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “pregar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “pregar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “pregar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “pregar” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “pregar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Borrowed from French prier, Italian pregare. Compare Esperanto preĝi.

• IPA^(key): /preˈɡar/

pregar (present tense pregas, past tense pregis, future tense pregos, imperative pregez, conditional pregus)

1. (transitive, religion) to pray (to)
2. (transitive) to beg, entreat, beseech

• suplikar

From Old Occitan pregar, from Latin precārī.

• IPA^(key): /pɾeˈɣa/

• Audio:

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pregar

1. to pray
2. to ask, politely request

• prèga
• pregària
• prègadieu
• en v'ac pregar

• prejar (Limousin)
• priar (Vivaro-alpine)
• preguejar (Gascon)

From Latin precārī.

pregar

1. to pray (as to God)

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “precari”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 9: Placabilis–Pyxis, page 337

From Old Galician-Portuguese pregar, a semi-learned term taken from Latin plicāre (“to fold”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to plait, to weave”). See also chegar, an inherited doublet, and the borrowing plicar.

• Hyphenation: pre‧gar

pregar (first-person singular present prego, first-person singular preterite preguei, past participle pregado)

1. to nail (employ a nail or similar object as a fastener)

   Synonym: martelar

   Antonym: despregar

2. to stare

   Synonym: encarar

From Old Galician-Portuguese preegar, from Latin praedicāre (“to proclaim”), from prae (“before, in front”) + dicō (“devote, consecrate”).

• Hyphenation: pre‧gar

pregar (first-person singular present prego, first-person singular preterite preguei, past participle pregado)

1. to preach (give a sermon)

   Synonym: proferir

2. to preach; to advocate (encourage support)

   Synonyms: difundir, preconizar

• IPA^(key): /pɾeˈɡaɾ/ [pɾeˈɣ̞aɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: pre‧gar

pregar (first-person singular present prego, first-person singular preterite pregué, past participle pregado)

1. (obsolete) to fix; to join

• “pregar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024