prototype

CEFRB2

/ˈpɹəʊtətaɪp/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    An early model used to test or develop a product.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A declaration of a function that specifies the name, return type, and parameters, but none of the body or actual code.

Examples

  • An early prototype broke when the engineers tested it.

  • prototype.js - inserts update information into the page when the page is loaded.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈpɹɐʉɾətaɪp]
  • [ˈpɹəʉɾətɑep]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An early sample or model built to test a concept or process.

  2. An original form or object which is a basis for other forms or objects (particularly manufactured items), or for its generalizations and models.

  3. An instance of a category or a concept that combines its most representative attributes.

More examples

In context

  • This design is too inefficient to prototype.

  • A robin is a prototype of a bird; a penguin is not.

  • The prototype had loose wires and rough edges, but it worked.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The engineers built a blank of the new car to test its performance before mass production.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From French prototype or Late Latin prototypon, from Ancient Greek πρωτότυπος (prōtótupos, “original; prototype”), from πρωτο- (prōto-, “first”) (from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first; earliest”)) + τῠ́πος (tŭ́pos, “blow, pressing; sort, type”) (from τύπτω (túptō, “to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (“to push; to stick”)). The word is analysable as proto- + -type.