prophecy

English

Etymology

From Middle English prophecie, from Old French prophetie, from Latin prophētīa, from Ancient Greek προφητεία (prophēteía, “prophecy”), from προφήτης (prophḗtēs, “speaker of a god”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + φημί (phēmí, “I tell”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒf.ə.si/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑfəsi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

prophecy (countable and uncountable, plural prophecies)

1. A prediction, especially one made by a prophet or under divine inspiration.

   French writer Nostradamus made a prophecy in his book.

2. The public interpretation of Scripture.

Derived terms

• self-fulfilling prophecy
• self-defeating prophecy

Related terms

• prophesy
• prophet
• prophetic

Translations

prediction

• Albanian: profeci (sq) f
• Amharic: ትንቢት (tənbit)
• Arabic: نُبُوءَة‎ f (nubūʾa), تَنَبُّؤ‎ m (tanabbuʾ)
• Armenian: մարգարեություն (hy) (margareutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: peyğəmbərlik
• Belarusian: праро́цтва n (praróctva)
• Bulgarian: проро́чество (bg) n (proróčestvo), предсказание (bg) n (predskazanie)
• Catalan: profecia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 預言 (zh), 预言 (zh) (yùyán)

• Czech: proroctví (cs) n
• Danish: profeti c, spådom c
• Dutch: voorspelling (nl) f
• Finnish: profetia (fi)
• French: prophétie (fr) f
• Galician: profecía f
• Georgian: წინასწარმეტყველება (c̣inasc̣armeṭq̇veleba)
• German: Prophezeiung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍀𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍆𐌴𐍄𐌾𐌰 m (praufētja)
• Greek: προφητεία (el) f (profiteía)
• Hebrew: נְבוּאָה‎ (he) f
• Hindi: भविष्यवाणी f (bhaviṣyavāṇī)
• Hungarian: jóslat (hu), prófécia (hu)
• Irish: tairngreacht f, fáistine f
• Italian: profezia (it) f
• Japanese: 予言 (ja) (よげん, yogen)
• Korean: 예언 (ko) (yeeon)

• Latin: vāticinium n, fatus m
• Macedonian: пророштво n (proroštvo)
• Maori: kupu whakaari, poropititanga
• Ngazidja Comorian: nubua
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: profeti (no) m, spådom m

  Nynorsk: spådom m

• Plautdietsch: Profeetie f
• Polish: proroctwo (pl) n, przepowiednia (pl) f
• Portuguese: profecia (pt) f
• Quechua: watuy
• Romanian: profeție (ro) f
• Russian: проро́чество (ru) n (proróčestvo), предсказа́ние (ru) n (predskazánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пророчанство n, пророштво n

  Roman: proročánstvo (sh) n, pròroštvo (sh) n

• Slovak: proroctvo n
• Slovene: prerokba (sl) f
• Spanish: profecía (es) f
• Swahili: utabiri (sw)
• Swedish: profetia (sv) c
• Tagalog: hawo
• Turkish: vahiy (tr)
• Ukrainian: проро́цтво n (proróctvo)
• Vietnamese: tiên tri (vi)
• Yiddish: נבֿואה‎ f (nevue)

Verb

prophecy (third-person singular simple present prophecies, present participle prophecying, simple past and past participle prophecied)

1. (chiefly dated) Alternative form of prophesy
   • 1967, George King, The Five Temples Of God, The Aetherius Society (2014 edition), page 19:

     The manipulation of these tremendous beneficient energies helped the world so well that the vast majority of these prophecied catastrophies did not happen.

   • 2001, Marjorie Garber, "“ ” (Quotation Marks)", in S.I. Salamensky, Talk, Talk, Talk: The Cultural Life of Everyday Conversation, Routledge, page 142:

     One prophecied a change of fortunes for the club: […]

   • 2013, Theodor Adorno, The Jargon of Authenticity, Routledge, page 135:

     The Heideggerian tone of voice is indeed prophecied in Schiller’s discussion of dignity.

   • 2014, Emran El-Badawi, The Qur'an and the Aramaic Gospel Traditions, Routledge, page 85:

     the parable in Mark 12:1—5 where some of Jesus’s followers who prophecied and were martyred in Antioch (Q 36;13—25; cf. 11:91);

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Middle English

Noun

prophecy

1. Alternative form of prophecie