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Added 9 October 2026

preach

/pɹiːt͡ʃ/ verb

In Latin: praedicō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about preach at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To give a sermon.
Our pastor can preach very well.
To proclaim by public discourse; to utter in a sermon or a formal religious harangue.
To advise or recommend earnestly.

noun

A religious discourse.

interjection

Used to express strong agreement (as if encouraging somebody to continue speaking).
– If you can't do the time, don't do the crime! – Preach!

Origin

From Middle English prechen, from Old French prëechier, precchier (Modern French prêcher), from Latin praedicō (“to proclaim, announce”, literally “to fore-assign, pre-dedicate”). Doublet of predicate. The Latin word is also the source of Old English predician (“to preach”), Saterland Frisian preetje (“to preach”), West Frisian preekje (“to preach”), Dutch preken (“to preach”), German Low German preken (“to preach”), German predigen (“to preach”), Danish prædike (“to preach”), Swedish predika (“to preach”), Icelandic prédika (“to preach”), Norwegian Nynorsk preika (“to preach”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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