prepare

See also: prépare, préparé, and preparé

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French preparer, from Classical Latin praeparāre (“make ready in advance”), from prae- (“pre-”) + parāre (“make ready”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈpɛə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈpɛəɹ/, /pɹəˈpɛəɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

prepare (third-person singular simple present prepares, present participle preparing, simple past and past participle prepared)

1. (transitive) To make ready for a specific future purpose; to set up; to assemble or equip.

   We prepared the spacecraft for takeoff.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalms 107:36:

     that they may prepare a city for habitation

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415:

     our souls, not yet prepared for upper light

2. (transitive) To make ready for eating or drinking; to cook.

   We prepared a fish for dinner.

3. (intransitive) To make oneself ready; to get ready, make preparation.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.

   We prepared for a bumpy ride.

4. (transitive) To produce or make by combining elements; to synthesize, compound.

   She prepared a meal from what was left in the cupboards.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that can take a following verb in its to + infinitive form. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• busk (obsolete), graith (obsolete), ready, yark (obsolete)

Related terms

• preparation

Derived terms

• if you want peace, prepare for war (proverb)

Translations

to make ready for a specific future purpose

• Albanian: përgatis
• Arabic: جَهَّزَ‎ (jahhaza), حَضَّرَ‎ (ḥaḍḍara), أَعَدَّ‎ (ʾaʿadda)

  Egyptian Arabic: جهز‎ (gahhiz), حضر‎ (ḥaḍḍar)

  Moroccan Arabic: وْجّد‎ (wajjad)

• Armenian: պատրաստել (hy) (patrastel)
• Azerbaijani: hazırlamaq (az)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: гатава́ць impf (hatavácʹ), прыгатава́ць pf (pryhatavácʹ), рыхтава́ць impf (ryxtavácʹ), падрыхтава́ць pf (padryxtavácʹ)
• Bulgarian: подго́твям (bg) (podgótvjam)
• Burmese: ပြင် (my) (prang), ကိုင် (my) (kuing), ရင် (my) (rang), စီစဉ် (my) (cicany)
• Catalan: preparar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 準備 (zh), 准备 (zh) (zhǔnbèi)

• Czech: připravit (cs) pf, chystat (cs) impf
• Danish: berede
• Dutch: voorbereiden (nl), prepareren (nl), klaarmaken (nl)
• Esperanto: prepari
• Estonian: valmistada, valmistama
• Finnish: valmistella (fi), varustaa (fi), laittaa valmiiksi
• French: préparer (fr)
• Galician: preparar (gl)
• Georgian: მომზადება (momzadeba)
• German: vorbereiten (de), präparieren (de)
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (manwjan)
• Greek: προετοιμάζω (el) (proetoimázo)

  Ancient: σκευάζω (skeuázō)

• Haitian Creole: prepare
• Hebrew: הכין‎ (hekhín)
• Hindi: तैयार करना (hi) (taiyār karnā)
• Hungarian: előkészít (hu), elkészít (hu)
• Icelandic: undirbúa (is)
• Irish: ullmhaigh, réitigh
• Istriot: parparà
• Italian: preparare (it)
• Japanese: 準備する (ja) (じゅんびする, jumbi suru)
• Kazakh: дайындау (dayındaw), әзірлеу (äzirlew), даярлау (dayarlaw)
• Khmer: រៀប (km) (riəp), សំរួច (sɑmruəc)
• Korean: 준비하다 (ko) (junbihada), 마견하다 (magyeonhada)
• Kyrgyz: даярдоо (ky) (dayardoo)
• Lao: ກຽມ (kīam), ຄາດ (lo) (khāt)

• Latgalian: gatavēt, rūst, taiseit
• Latin: parō (la)
• Latvian: gatavot, taisīt
• Lithuanian: ruošti
• Lombard: preparà
• Macedonian: подготвува impf (podgotvuva), подготви pf (podgotvi)
• Malay: sediakan, mempersiapkan, mempersediakan
• Maori: whakareri
• Middle English: forgreithen
• Mongolian: бэлтгэх (mn) (beltgekh)
• Ngazidja Comorian: upanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forberede

  Nynorsk: førebu

• Old English: æfnan
• Old French: aprester
• Persian: آماده کردن‎ (fa) (âmâde kardan), تیار کردن‎ (tayyâr kardan), آمودن‎ (fa)
• Polish: przygotować (pl) pf, przygotowywać (pl) impf
• Portuguese: preparar (pt)
• Quechua: allichay (qu)
• Romanian: prepara (ro), pregăti (ro)
• Russian: гото́вить (ru) impf (gotóvitʹ), подгото́вить (ru) pf (podgotóvitʹ), пригото́вить (ru) pf (prigotóvitʹ), подгота́вливать (ru) impf (podgotávlivatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: припре́мити pf, прѝправити pf

  Roman: priprémiti (sh) pf, prìpraviti (sh) pf

• Slovak: pripravovať impf, pripraviť pf
• Slovene: pripravljati impf, pripraviti (sl) pf
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: pśigótowaś impf or pf

• Spanish: preparar (es)
• Swahili: andaa (sw)
• Swedish: förbereda (sv)
• Tajik: тайёр кардан (tg) (tayyor kardan), омода кардан (omoda kardan)
• Thai: เตรียม (th) (dtriiam), จัด (th) (jàt), แต่ง (th) (dtɛ̀ng)
• Turkish: hazırlamak (tr)
• Turkmen: taýýarlamak
• Ukrainian: готува́ти impf (hotuváty), підготува́ти pf (pidhotuváty), приготува́ти pf (pryhotuváty), гото́вити impf (hotóvyty), рихтува́ти impf (ryxtuváty)
• Urdu: تیار کرنا‎ (taiyār karnā)
• Uzbek: tayyorlamoq (uz), hozirlamoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: chuẩn bị (vi)
• Walloon: aprester (wa), apontyî (wa)
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

to make ready for eating or drinking

• Arabic:

  Moroccan Arabic: وجد‎ (wajjad)

• Armenian: պատրաստել (hy) (patrastel)
• Bulgarian: приго́твям (bg) (prigótvjam), готвя (bg) (gotvja)
• Catalan: preparar (ca), fer (ca)
• Czech: připravit (cs)
• Danish: tilberede
• Esperanto: pretigi
• Finnish: valmistaa (fi), tehdä (fi), kokata (fi), laittaa (fi)
• French: préparer (fr), apprêter (fr)
• German: zubereiten (de), vorbereiten (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: σκευάζω (skeuázō)

• Italian: preparare (it)
• Khmer: ហុង (km) (hoŋ), បោប (km) (baop)
• Latvian: gatavot
• Maori: taute (of food for cooking), taka, whakataka, pihe (refers only to food)

• Ngazidja Comorian: upiha
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilberede

• Persian: پختن‎ (fa)
• Portuguese: preparar (pt), fazer (pt)
• Quechua: wakichiy
• Russian: гото́вить (ru) impf (gotóvitʹ), пригото́вить (ru) pf (prigotóvitʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: priprémiti (sh) pf, prìpraviti (sh) pf, priréditi (sh) pf

• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: pśigótowaś impf or pf

• Spanish: preparar (es), hacer (es)
• Swahili: kuandaa (sw), ≈ (sth) for (sb) kuandalia
• Swedish: förbereda (sv)
• Turkish: sofra kurmak (tr), hazırlamak (tr)
• Walloon: aprester (wa), apontyî (wa)

to make oneself ready

• Arabic: اِسْتَعَدَّ‎ (istaʿadda)

  Moroccan Arabic: وجد راسه‎ (wajjad rāsu)

• Armenian: պատրաստվել (hy) (patrastvel)
• Azerbaijani: hazırlaşmaq (az)
• Belarusian: гатава́цца impf (hatavácca), прыгатава́цца pf (pryhatavácca), рыхтава́цца impf (ryxtavácca), падрыхтава́цца pf (padryxtavácca)
• Bulgarian: подго́твям се (bg) impf (podgótvjam se)
• Catalan: preparar-se
• Cherokee: ᎠᏛᏅᎢᏍᏗᎭ (advnvisdiha)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 準備 (zh), 准备 (zh) (zhǔnbèi)

• Czech: připravit se (cs)
• Esperanto: prepariĝi
• Finnish: valmistautua (fi), varautua (fi), varustautua (fi)
• French: se préparer (fr)
• German: sich vorbereiten (de)
• Hebrew: התכונן‎ (hitkonén)
• Hungarian: felkészül (hu), készül (hu), előkészül (hu)
• Irish: ullmhaigh, stócáil

• Italian: prepararsi (it)
• Japanese: 準備する (ja) (じゅんびする, junbi suru)
• Khmer: បម្រុង (km) (bɑmroŋ)
• Korean: 준비하다 (ko) (junbihada)
• Latvian: gatavoties
• Middle English: dressen
• Ngazidja Comorian: udjihuɗumu
• Persian: آمادن‎ (fa)
• Polish: przygotowywać się (pl) impf, przygotować się (pl) pf
• Portuguese: preparar-se
• Russian: гото́виться (ru) impf (gotóvitʹsja), подгото́виться (ru) pf (podgotóvitʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: priprémiti se (sh) pf, sprémiti se (sh) pf

• Slovak: pripravovať sa impf, pripraviť sa pf
• Spanish: prepararse
• Swahili: andaa (sw)
• Swedish: förbereda (sv) sig
• Turkish: hazırlanmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: готува́тися impf (hotuvátysja), гото́витися impf (hotóvytysja), підготува́тися pf (pidhotuvátysja), приготува́тися pf (pryhotuvátysja), рихтува́тися impf (ryxtuvátysja)
• Walloon: s' aprester (wa), s' apontyî (wa)

to produce by combining elements

• Czech: připravit (cs)
• Dutch: voorbereiden (nl)
• Finnish: valmistaa (fi), tehdä (fi), laittaa (fi)
• French: préparer (fr), combiner (fr)
• Khmer: ស្លុក (km) (slok), ចំអិន (cɑm’ən)

• Latvian: gatavot
• Persian: ساختن‎ (fa)
• Swahili: andaa (sw)
• Swedish: förbereda (sv)
• Walloon: aprester (wa), apontyî (wa)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norman: ^{(please verify)} graie (Jersey)

• Scottish Gaelic: ^{(please verify)} ullaich

Noun

prepare

1. (obsolete) preparation
   • c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i], line 130:

     Go levy men, and make prepare for war;

Anagrams

• paperer, repaper

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Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French préparer (“prepare”), from Latin praeparāre (“make ready in advance”), from prae- (“pre-”) + parāre (“make ready”).

Verb

prepare

1. prepare

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Portuguese

Verb

prepare

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of preparar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of preparar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of preparar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of preparar

---

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [preˈpare]

Verb

prepare

1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of prepara

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾeˈpaɾe/, [pɾeˈpa.ɾe]

Verb

prepare

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of preparar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of preparar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of preparar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of preparar.