字面：被獵殺的一方
最原始的畫面本身，以及一個從它長出來的固定說法。這一支還停在真實的動物世界裡。
prey, a hunted animal · noun · C2
An animal, bird, or other living thing that another animal hunts and eats.
獵物
核心畫面
One way to picture it: the animal at the other end of the hunt — the one being chased, caught and eaten. Everything else is that same asymmetry moved somewhere new.
一場追捕裡「被追的那一方」。草原上獅子在後、羚羊在前——羚羊就是 prey。字根 praeda 原本是「戰利品、掠奪…更多收起
一場追捕裡「被追的那一方」。草原上獅子在後、羚羊在前——羚羊就是 prey。字根 praeda 原本是「戰利品、掠奪來的東西」，所以這個畫面裡最關鍵的不是「動物」，而是那個一面倒的關係：有人追、有人被追；有人拿、有人被拿走。之後所有的意思，都是把這個力量差搬到別的場景裡去。From the word’s history
From Latin praeda 'plunder, booty' — the same root as predator. The oldest sense is not 'animal' but 'the thing seized', which is why prey stretches so easily from antelope to a swindled pensioner.
來自拉丁文 praeda（掠奪物、戰利品），和 predator（掠食者）同源。有趣的是，字根講的其實不是「動物」，而是「被奪走的那個東西」——所以 prey 才能這麼自然地從草原上的羚羊，延伸到被詐騙集團盯上的老人家：他們在句子裡站的是同一個位置。
Wiktionary（prey 詞條）：From Middle English preye, from Anglo-Norman and Old French preie/proie, from Latin praeda; compare predator.
Two branches
比喻：站在被下手的位置上
把獵物的位置從草原搬到人的世界。追捕者可能是騙子、可能是疾病，甚至可能是一種情緒；共同點是那個一面倒的力量差還在——你是被下手的那一方，而且抵抗不了。
fall prey to · noun · C2
If you fall prey to a person or a bad thing, it harms you or takes hold of you. You can also be prey to a feeling such as fear.
犧牲品
原始詞典資料7 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
preynoun詞源 1/pɹeɪ/
- 1
That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.
- The deer became prey to the lion.
- Already sees herself the monster's prey.
- 2
A person or thing given up as a victim.
- [The helmsman] steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk […]
- Being so inflexible, the railway was easy prey to road competition, and the arrival of unregulated lorry transport from farm fields to town centres quickly captured all locally generated business.
- 3
A living thing, usually an animal, that is eaten by another living thing.
- The rabbit was eaten by the coyote, so the rabbit is the coyote's prey.
- Stranded without any weapons, we made very easy prey.
- 4
archaicAnything, such as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; something taken by force from an enemy in war.
- And they brought the captiues, and the pray, and the spoile vnto Moses and Eleazar the Priest, and vnto the Congregation of the children of Israel, vnto the campe at the plaines of Moab, which are by Iordan neere Iericho.
- 5
archaicThe act of devouring other creatures; ravage.
- Hog in sloth, fox in stealth, […] lion in prey.
- 6
The victim of a disease.
- He became the prey of dengue.
preyverb詞源 2/pɹeɪ/
- 1
To act as a predator.
- The ridge had been a haven for birds and small earth creatures, creeping, crawling, and hopping in a little world of balanced ecology where wild things preyed and were preyed upon […]
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。