prea

From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Latin praeda (“booty, prey”), from earlier praeheda, from prae + Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to hold”). Cognate with Portuguese preia, English prey.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɾea̝/

prea f (plural preas)

1. body of a dead animal
2. prey, game
3. booty
   • 1295, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, La traducción gallega de la Crónica General y de la Crónica de Castilla, Ourense: I.E.O.P.F., page 232:

     Et correullj a terra et astragoulla, et leuou ende muy grandes preas, et o al que ficaua queymoullo todo.

     He raided his land and wasted it, taking away many spoils, and what was left behind he put it in fire

   • 1775, María Francisca Isla y Losada, Romance:

     Anque à prea non hègrande
     si ca si, ò sacristan
     disque à pestàna do figado
     se lle hiba alegrando já.
     Ô cont'hè, si enturra n'eso
     Deus me libre das suas más,
     que'anque eu non queira, na Coba
     de chantarme heche capàz.

     Although the booty is not large,
     anyhow, the sacristan's
     liver's eyes, reportedly,
     were shinning bright.
     The issue is, if he persists,
     God save me from his hands,
     that even if I don't want, in the grave
     he is capable of thrusting me

4. (regional) delicious food
5. (figurative) mean, stupid, or untidy person

   Déixao de molestar, non sexas prea!

   Stop harassing him, don't be mean!

6. (figurative) drunkness

   Ten unha prea que non se lambe ― He's so drunk he can barely speak

• preada
• prear
• preeiro

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “prea”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “prea”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “prea”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “prea”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Inherited from Latin prae, or less likely borrowed from Old Church Slavonic прѣ (prě)

• IPA^(key): /ˈpre̯a/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a

prea

1. (stressed, modifying adjectives or adverbs) too (to an excessive degree)

   E încă prea devreme.

   It’s still too early.

   Sunt prea mulți oameni înăuntru.

   There are too many people inside.

2. (stressed, now informal, modifying verbs) too much

   Prea te grăbești!

   You’re rushing too much!

3. (unstressed, informal, chiefly in the negative, modifying adjectives or adverbs) too (to a high degree)

   nu prea curând ― not anytime soon (literally, “not too soon”)

   Să fii concediat nu este prea plăcut.

   Being laid off isn’t too pleasant.

4. (unstressed, informal, chiefly in the negative, modifying verbs) much, too much, really

   Situația nu se prea îmbunătățește.

   The situation isn’t improving much.

   Nu prea am văzut nimic.

   I didn’t really see anything.

   ―Te-ai descurcat? ―Nu prea.

   “Did you do well?” “Not really.”

5. (archaic) most, very, highly
   • 1840 August 18, Gheorghe Bariț, editor, Gazeta de Transilvania, year 3, number 34, Brașov, page 136:

     О табакере кꙋ брілантꙋрі̆ преа богат ꙟмфрꙋмсъцатъ, ші о скрісоаре де ꙟнсꙋші̆ мѫна Сꙋлтанꙋлꙋі̆

     O tabachere cu brilanturi prea bogat îmfrumsățată, și o scrisoare de însuși mâna Sultanului

     A snuffbox most richly decorated with diamonds, and a letter by the hand of the Sultan himself

6. (North-East Oltenia) synonym of cam (“approximately”)

• nici prea-prea, nici foarte-foarte
• prea-
• prea de tot

• “prea”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025
• Iorgu Iordan, Alexandru Graur, Ion Coteanu, editors (1978), Dicționarul Limbii Române‎, volume 8, part 5, Bucharest: Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, pages 1239–1241

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɾea/
• Rhymes: -ea
• Syllabification: pre‧a

Inherited from Latin praeda, from earlier praeheda, from prae- + Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to hold”).

• preda (obsolete)

prea f (plural preas)

1. taking; something taken

prea

1. inflection of prear:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “prea”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy , 2024 December 10

From English prayer.

prea

1. prayer