Prayer is called by ten expressions, and these are they: shav‘ah (a cry for help), tze‘akah (a shout or cry out), ne’akah (a groan), rinah (song or exultant prayer), pegi‘ah (entreaty or intercession), bitzur (supplication in distress), keri’ah (calling out), nefilah (falling down in supplication), pilul (prayer or intercession), and tachanunim (pleas for mercy).

Midrash Rabbah on Deuteronomy 3:23; Sifri, ibid. These synonyms for prayer are derived from: Exodus 2:23-24, Jeremiah 7:16, Psalms 18:6, Deuteronomy 9:25, Psalms 106:30, Genesis 25:21, and Exodus 32:11 and Deuteronomy 3:23.