Imprecation
/ˌɪm.prəˈkeɪ.ʃən/noun
A spoken curse or the act of cursing.
Did you know?Imprecation comes from Latin precari, meaning “to pray,” because a curse was once understood as a twisted prayer calling power down on a target.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*prex-
“to ask, entreat, pray”
Latin
Latin
precari
“to pray, ask earnestly”
Latin
Latin
imprecari
“to invoke a curse upon; to pray evil upon”
Middle English
English
imprecacioun
“a curse; the act of cursing”
Modern English
English
imprecation
“a spoken curse or denunciation”
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