Other forms: prates
To prate is to talk on foolishly and at length. Prate about his plans, prating on, stop your prating.
It is archaic and dismissive, and it says the talk is both empty and long. Prattle is the affectionate version, used of children. The word came from Middle Dutch or Low German and imitates the sound of chatter.
1verbprateTo talk on foolishly and at length.
“He prated on about his holiday while everyone else tried to change the subject.”
prate is a way of talking.
From Middle Dutch or Middle Low German praten, to chatter, probably imitative. Prattle is a diminutive of the same word.
Proto-Indo-European
*bred- — to wander, rove
Proto-Germanic
*prattuz — idle or boastful talk, deceit
Proto-West Germanic
*prattu
Old Saxon
*pratt
Middle Low German
praten
Old English
prætt
Middle English
praten
English, today
prate
From Middle English praten; either inherited from Old English prætt or borrowed via Middle Dutch - or Middle Low German praten (from Old Saxon pratt), all from Proto-West Germanic prattu, ultimately from Proto-Germanic prattuz (“idle or boastful talk, deceit”), from Proto-Indo-European bred- (“to wander, rove”). Related to Dutch praten (“to talk, chat”), Low German praten, dated German pfrassen, Danish prate, Swedish prata (“to talk, prate”), Faroese práta (“to talk, gossip”), Icelandic prata;; also cognate with Polish bredzić (“to rave, jabber”), Latvian bradāt (“to talk nonsense”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA