prototype

Etymology

proto- +‎ -type

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

prototype (plural prototypes)

1. An original object or form which is a basis for other objects, forms, or for its models and generalizations.
   • 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. Or, The Quincunciall, Lozenge, or Net-work Plantations of the Ancients, Artificially, Naturally, Mystically Considered. Chapter I.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, or, A Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes Lately Found in Norfolk. Together with The Garden of Cyrus, or The Quincunciall, Lozenge, or Net-work Plantations of the Ancients, Artificially, Naturally, Mystically Considered. With Sundry Observations, London: Printed for Hen[ry] Brome at the Signe of the Gun in Ivy-lane, OCLC 48702491; reprinted as Hydriotaphia (The English Replicas), New York, N.Y.: Payson & Clarke Ltd., 1927, OCLC 78413388, pages 102–103:

     And if Jordan were but Jaar Eden, that is, the Riuer of Eden, Geneſar but Ganſar or the Prince of Gardens; and it could be made out, that the Plain of Jordan were watered not comparatively, but cauſally, and becauſe it was the Paradiſe of God, as the Learned Abramas hinteth, he was not far from the Prototype and originall of Plantations.

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

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

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

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

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

Verb

prototype (third-person singular simple present prototypes, present participle prototyping, simple past and past participle prototyped)

1. To create a prototype of.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prōtotypus, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek πρωτότυπος (prōtótupos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.tɔ.tip/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

prototype m (plural prototypes)

1. prototype

Further reading

• “prototype” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Alternative forms

• prototyp

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-) + τύπος (túpos)

Noun

prototype m (definite singular prototypen, indefinite plural prototyper, definite plural prototypene)

1. a prototype

References

• “prototype” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Alternative forms

• prototyp

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-) + τύπος (túpos)

Noun

prototype m (definite singular prototypen, indefinite plural prototypar, definite plural prototypane)

1. a prototype

References

• “prototype” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.