prologue

See also: prologué

English

Alternative forms

• prolog

Etymology

From Middle English prologue, prologe, from Old French prologue, from Latin prologus, from Ancient Greek πρόλογος (prólogos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹəʊlɒɡ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹoʊlɔɡ/, /ˈpɹoʊlɑɡ/

Noun

prologue (plural prologues)

1. A speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel.

   Synonyms: forespeech; see also Thesaurus:foreword

   Antonyms: epilogue; see also Thesaurus:afterword

   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Lisson Grove Mystery‎^[1]:

     “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what [...] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”

2. One who delivers a prologue.
   • 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida:

     And hither am I come, / A Prologue armed, but not in confidence / Of author's pen or actor's voice,

3. (computing) A component of a computer program that prepares the computer to execute a routine.
4. (cycling) An individual time trial before a stage race, used to determine which rider wears the leader's jersey on the first stage.

Derived terms

• prologuize

Translations

speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel

• Catalan: pròleg m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 序幕 (zh) (xùmù)

• Czech: prolog m
• Dutch: proloog (nl)
• Finnish: prologi (fi)
• French: prologue (fr) m
• German: Prolog (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient: πρόλογος m (prólogos)

• Hebrew: פרולוג (he) m
• Japanese: プロローグ (ja) (purorōgu), 序幕 (ja) (じょまく, jomaku)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: praefātiō f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prolog m

• Portuguese: prólogo (pt) m
• Russian: проло́г (ru) m (prológ), предисло́вие (ru) n (predislóvije)
• Scottish Gaelic: ro-ràdh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пре̏дгово̄р, про̀лог,

  Roman: prȅdgovōr (sh) m, pròlog (sh)

• Spanish: prólogo (es) m
• Swedish: prolog (sv) c
• Telugu: పూర్వరంగము (te) (pūrvaraṅgamu)
• Yiddish: פּראָלאָג m (prolog)

Verb

1. To introduce with a formal preface, or prologue.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “prologue”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

---

French

Noun

prologue m (plural prologues)

1. prologue

---

Spanish

Verb

prologue

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of prologar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of prologar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of prologar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of prologar.