predator

English

Alternative forms

• prædator (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praedātor, from praedor (“loot, pillage”), from praeda (“booty, spoils, prey”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛd.ə.tɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛd.ə.tə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

predator (plural predators)

2. Any animal or other organism that hunts and kills other nonplant organisms (their prey), primarily for food.

   Hyponym: mesopredator

   • 2018 October 15, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The pollination of cultivated plants: A compendium for practitioners: Volume 2, Food & Agriculture Org., →ISBN, page 73:

     Hives should be positioned, oriented and protected to avoid predators and ensure survival in the meliponary. A study (pers. obs.) of predators shows that the main culprits in a Malaysian meliponary are frogs and lizards.

   • 2023, Robert M. Sapolsky, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, New York: Penguin, →ISBN:

     So if you're the only thing worth eating in the middle of the ocean, the predator that grabs you will probably have gotten there by a Levy walk.

3. (informal) Someone who attacks and plunders for gain.

   Synonym: vulture

4. (informal, slang) A sexual predator.

Derived terms

• ambush predator
• anti-predator
• apex predator
• cyberpredator
• hyperpredator
• interpredator
• kleptopredator
• macropredator
• micropredator
• nonpredator
• predator bug
• predatorial
• predatorious
• predatorism
• predatorlike
• predator satiation
• predator saturation
• predator trap
• Predditor
• predophile
• sexual predator
• sit-and-wait predator
• superpredator

Related terms

• predation
• predatory
• prey

Translations

animal or organism that hunts

• Afrikaans: roofdier
• Albanian: grabitqar (sq) m
• Altai:

  Southern Altai: барынтычы (barïntïčï)

• Arabic: مُفْتَرِس m (muftaris), ضَارٍ m (ḍārin)
• Armenian: գիշատիչ (hy) (gišatičʻ)
• Azerbaijani: yırtıcı (az)
• Bashkir: йыртҡыс (yırtqıs)
• Belarusian: драпе́жнік (drapjéžnik), хіжа́к m (xižák)
• Breton: preizher (br) m
• Bulgarian: хи́щник (bg) m (híštnik)
• Catalan: predador m, depredador m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 掠食者 (lüèshízhě), 天敵 / 天敌 (zh) (tiāndí)

• Czech: dravec m
• Danish: rovdyr (da) n
• Dutch: roofdier (nl) n roofvis (nl) m (usually of other fish), predator (nl) m (ecology)
• Esperanto: kaperanto
• Estonian: kiskja
• Faroese: ránsdjór n, ránsdýr n
• Finnish: saalistaja (fi), peto (fi)
• French: prédateur (fr) m
• Galician: predador m
• Georgian: მტაცებელი (ka) (mṭacebeli)
• German: Raubtier (de) n, Raubfisch (de) m (usually of other fish), Beutegreifer (de) m (biology), Prädator (de) m (ecology)
• Greek: αρπακτικό (el) n (arpaktikó)
• Hebrew: טוֹרֵף (he) m (toréf)
• Hindi: दरिंदा (hi) m (darindā)
• Hungarian: ragadozó (hu)
• Icelandic: rándýr (is) n
• Indonesian: pemangsa (id)
• Irish: creachadóir m
• Italian: predatore (it) m
• Japanese: 天敵 (ja) (てんてき, tenteki)
• Kazakh: жыртқыш (jırtqıš)
• Korean: 천적(天敵) (ko) (cheonjeok)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: dirinde (ku), hov (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жырткыч (ky) (jırtkıc)
• Lak: жанавар (žanawar)
• Latin: praedātor m
• Latvian: plēsonis m
• Lithuanian: plėšrūnas (lt) m
• Macedonian: предатор m (predator), грабливец m (grablivec)
• Malay: pemangsa (ms)
• Māori: kaikonihi
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: махчин амьтан (maxčin amʹtan)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rovdyr (no) n

  Nynorsk: rovdyr n

• Pashto: ښکارکوونکی m (x̌kārkawūnkay)
• Persian:

  Classical Persian: دَرَنْدَه (daranda)

  Dari: دَرِنْدَه (darinda)

  Iranian Persian: دَرَنْدِه (darande)

• Polish: drapieżnik (pl) m
• Portuguese: predador (pt) m
• Romanian: prădător (ro) m
• Russian: хи́щник (ru) m (xíščnik)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прѐда̄тор m

  Latin: prèdātor (sh) m

• Slovak: dravec (sk) m
• Slovene: plenilec m, ujeda (sl) f (bird)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: rubjažne zwěrje n, tergate zwěrje n

• Spanish: predador (es) m, depredador (es) m
• Swedish: rovdjur (sv) n, predator (sv) c
• Tajik: дарранда (darranda)
• Tatar: ерткыч (tt) (yırtqıç)
• Thai: นักล่า (nák-lâa), ผู้ล่า (pûu-lâa)
• Turkish: yırtıcı (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: یرتیجی (yırtıcı)

• Turkmen: ýyrtyjy
• Ukrainian: хижа́к m (xyžák)
• Urdu: دَرِنْدَہ m (darinda)
• Uyghur: يىرتقۇچ (yirtquch)
• Uzbek: yirtqich (uz), darranda (uz)
• Vietnamese: động vật ăn thịt
• Welsh: rheibiwr m, ysglyfaethwr m
• Zazaki: dırıter, dırıtoğ

someone who attacks and plunders

• Catalan: depredador m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 掠奪者 / 掠夺者 (zh) (lüèduózhě)

• Galician: predador m
• Greek: αρπακτικό (el) n (arpaktikó), άρπαγας (el) m (árpagas)
• Hungarian: ragadozó (hu)
• Italian: predatore (it) m, predone (it) m
• Latin: praedātor m
• Māori: konihi
• Portuguese: predador (pt) m
• Russian: хи́щник (ru) m (xíščnik)
• Spanish: depredador (es) m
• Ukrainian: хижа́к m (xyžák)
• Zazaki: nengu eşten

Anagrams

• parroted, prorated, protrade, rope dart, teardrop

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praedātor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpreːˈdaː.tɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧da‧tor

Noun

predator m (plural predatoren, no diminutive)

1. (biology, chiefly zoology) predator (An organism (usually animal) that kills other non-plant organisms for food.)
2. human predator (A criminal, in particular a sexual predator.)

Synonyms

• roofdier

Related terms

• predatie
• prederen

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praedātor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prědaːtor/
• Hyphenation: pre‧da‧tor

Noun

prèdātor m anim (Cyrillic spelling прѐда̄тор)

1. predator

Declension

Declension of predator

	singular	plural
nominative	predator	predatori
genitive	predatora	predatora
dative	predatoru	predatorima
accusative	predatora	predatore
vocative	predatore	predatori
locative	predatoru	predatorima
instrumental	predatorom	predatorima