Meaning

noun a person who is the aim of an attack (especially a victim of ridicule or exploitation) by some hostile person or influence

noun animal hunted or caught for food

verb profit from in an exploitatory manner

originFrom Middle English praien, prayen, preyen, partly from the noun and partly from Old French praer, preer, earlier preder, from Late Latin praedō, collateral form of Latin praedor, from praeda (“plunder, booty, loot”) + -ō (verbal suffix). Doublet of prede.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0