prototype
/ˈpɹəʊtətaɪp/
"prototype" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prototype” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,233 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,233
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An original form or object which is a basis for other forms or objects (particularly manufactured items), or for its generalizations and models.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | prototype |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɹəʊtətaɪp/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #9,233 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “prototype” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for prototype is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɹəʊtətaɪp/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,233 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for prototype, with forms such as "portotype", "pprototype", and "proottype". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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, “t… The correct English form is prototype, spelled P-R-O-T-O-T-Y-P-E.
Definition
- 1An original form or object which is a basis for other forms or objects (particularly manufactured items), or for its generalizations and models.
- 2An early sample or model built to test a concept or process.
- 3A declaration of a function that specifies the name, return type, and parameters, but none of the body or actual code.
- 4An instance of a category or a concept that combines its most representative attributes.
- 5A type of race car, a racing sports car not based on a production car. A 4-wheeled cockpit-seating car built especially for racing on sports car circuits, that does not use the silhouette related to a consumer road car.
Etymology
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.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: portotype,pprototype,proottype,prototpye,protottype,prototyep,prototyppe,prototyype,protoytpe,prottotype,prottoype,prrototype,prtootype,rpototype
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of prototype - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “prototype”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-O-T-O-T-Y-P-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɹəʊtətaɪp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.