# prototype

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpɹəʊtətaɪp/ · frequency rank #9,233

## Definitions
1. An original form or object which is a basis for other forms or objects (particularly manufactured items), or for its generalizations and models.
2. An early sample or model built to test a concept or process.
3. A declaration of a function that specifies the name, return type, and parameters, but none of the body or actual code.
4. An instance of a category or a concept that combines its most representative attributes.
5. A 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.

## Common misspellings (14)
`portotype`, `pprototype`, `proottype`, `prototpye`, `protottype`, `prototyep`, `prototyppe`, `prototyype`, `protoytpe`, `prottotype`, `prottoype`, `prrototype`, `prtootype`, `rpototype`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/prototype