prototype

English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

prototype (plural prototypes)

1. An original object or form which is a basis for other objects, forms, or for its models and generalizations
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.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:exemplar

Derived terms

• prototype theory

Related terms

• first article

Translations

an original object or form which is a basis for other objects

• Bulgarian: първообраз (bg) (pǎrvoóbraz) m , прототип (bg) (prototíp) m 
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 原型 (cmn) (yuánxíng), 典型 (cmn) (diǎnxíng)

• Czech: prototyp (cs) m
• Dutch: prototype (nl) n
• Finnish: prototyyppi (fi)
• French: prototype (fr) m
• German: Prototyp (de) m
• Greek: πρωτότυπο (el) (protótypo) n 
• Hebrew: אב טיפוס (he)
• Icelandic: frumgerð (is)
• Interlingua: prototypo

• Italian: prototipo (it) m
• Japanese: プロトタイプ (ja) (purototaipu), 原型 (ja) (げんがた, gengata, げんけい, genkei)
• Polish: prototyp (pl) m
• Portuguese: protótipo (pt) m
• Russian: прототип (ru) (prototíp) m , модель (ru) (modɛ́lʹ) f , прообраз (ru) (proóbraz) m 
• Serbo-Croatian: prȍtotīp (sh) m
• Spanish: prototipo (es) m
• Swedish: prototyp (sv) c
• Turkish: prototip (tr), model (tr)

Verb

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

1. To create a prototype of.