pro

English Online Dictionary. What means pro‎? What does pro mean?

Translingual

Etymology

Abbreviation of English Provençal + abbreviation of English old.

Symbol

pro

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Old Occitan.

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹəʊ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊ/
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Etymology 1

From Late Middle English pro, from Latin prō (“on behalf of”).

Noun

pro (plural pros)

2. An advantage of something, especially when contrasted with its disadvantages (cons).

   Synonyms: advantage, plus, upside

   Antonyms: con, disadvantage, downside, minus

3. A person who supports a concept or principle.

   Antonym: anti

Derived terms

• pros and cons

Translations

Preposition

pro

1. In favor of.

   Antonym: anti

Translations

Etymology 2

Clipping of professional.

Noun

pro (plural pros)

1. A professional sportsman.
2. (colloquial) Professional.

Derived terms

• gold pro
• pro-am
• pro move
• pro shop

Translations

Adjective

pro (comparative more pro, superlative most pro)

1. Professional.

Derived terms

• pro wrestling

Etymology 3

Clipping of prostitute.

Noun

pro (plural pros)

1. (slang) A prostitute.
   • 1974, "Fynn" (Sydney Hopkins), Mister God, This Is Anna

     Millie was one of the dozen or so pros who had a house at the top of the street.

Derived terms

• pro skirt

Etymology 4

Clipping of proproctor

Noun

pro (plural pros)

1. (UK, slang, archaic) A proproctor.

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

Etymology 5

Clipping of prophylaxis.

Noun

pro (plural pros)

1. (slang, historical) A chemical prophylaxis taken after sex to avoid contracting venereal disease.

See also

Anagrams

• RPO, opr., ROP, orp, OPr., POR

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈpɾɔ]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈpɾo]

Noun

pro m (plural pros)

1. pro; benefit; bonus

Preposition

pro

1. pro, for; in favour of

Chinese

Etymology

From clipping of English professional.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʰou̯²²/, /pʰɹou̯²²/

Adjective

pro

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) professional

Synonyms

• 專業／专业 (zhuānyè)

See also

• 傾pro／倾pro (“to discuss a school project”)

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpro]

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Czech pro, from Proto-Slavic *pro.

Preposition

pro [with accusative]

1. for

   Zabili ho pro peníze. ― They killed him for his money.

Etymology 2

Noun

pro n (indeclinable)

1. pro (advantage)

   Synonym: klad

   Antonyms: proti, zápor

   Všechno má svá pro a proti. ― Everything has its pros and cons.

Further reading

• “pro”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “pro”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “pro”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pro/
• Rhymes: -o
• Hyphenation: pro

Preposition

pro

1. caused by, because of, owing to, due to
2. motivated by, for the sake of, on account of, for
3. in exchange for

See also

• per
• por

Finnish

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin pro or Ancient Greek πρό (pró).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈproː/, [ˈpro̞ː]
• Rhymes: -oː
• Hyphenation^(key): pro

Adverb

pro (not comparable) [with nominative]

1. instead of, rather than

   Synonym: sijaan

References

• Ruppel, Klaas, editor (2021–2023), Suomen etymologinen sanakirja [Finnish Etymological Dictionary] (Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 72)‎^[1] (in Finnish), Kotimaisten kielten keskus, →ISSN

Further reading

• “1. pro”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-01

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English pro, from professional.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈproː/, [ˈpro̞ː]
• IPA^(key): /ˈprou̯/, [ˈpro̞u̯]
• Rhymes: -oː

Adjective

pro (not comparable) (colloquial)

1. skilled

   Synonym: taitava

Declension

Further reading

• “2. pro”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[3] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-01

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁo/

Etymology 1

Clipping of professionnel(le).

Adjective

pro (plural pros)

1. (informal) professional

Noun

pro m or f by sense (plural pros)

1. (informal) professional

2. (informal) a whiz, someone who is very good at something

Further reading

• “pro”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Etymology 2

From prochain.

Adjective

pro (plural pros)

1. (informal) next

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prō (“for”).

Pronunciation

Preposition

pro [with accusative or dative or nominative]

1. per, each

   Synonyms: je, für

Usage notes

• Followed by a noun in either the accusative, dative or nominative case. No semantic distinction is made between the cases here. Examples from Duden:

  pro gefahrenen / gefahrenem Kilometer ― per kilometer travelled

  pro verkauftes / verkauftem Exemplar ― for every copy sold

  • The accusative is the most prescriptive and most formal sounding case.
  • The nominative is especially popular when a bare noun (i.e. without adjectives or other modifiers) follows the preposition:

    pro Mensch NOM >> pro Menschen ACC / DAT

    pro Kollege NOM >> pro Kollegen ACC / DAT

• When used in a Latin phrase, the ablative is used according to the rules of Latin grammar: pars pro toto or Pars pro Toto, and pro forma or pro Forma.

Derived terms

• pro Kopf

Further reading

• “pro, je, zu, jeweils, für” in Duden online
• “pro, für, dafür” in Duden online
• “pro” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Ido

Preposition

pro

1. because of

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpro]
• Hyphenation: pro

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin pro.

Adjective

pro

1. (colloquial) pro, in favor of

   Synonym: setuju

2. more

   Synonym: lebih

Etymology 2

From clipping of profesional (“professional”).

Noun

pro (plural pro-pro)

1. Clipping of profesional (“professional”).

Further reading

• “pro” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Interlingua

Alternative forms

• por

Etymology

From Latin prō, which is the predecessor of French pour, Italian pro and Spanish para via Vulgar Latin por. See also por.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pro/

Preposition

pro

1. for, to, for the sake of, not against

2. in place of, in exchange for, in return for

3. (+ infinitive) to, in order to (expressing the intended purpose of an action)

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin prō (“for, on behalf of”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɔ/^°, /pro/^° (preposition)
  • Rhymes: -ɔ, -o
  • Hyphenation: prò, pro
• IPA^(key): /ˈprɔ/^* (noun)
  • Rhymes: -ɔ
  • Hyphenation: prò
• The preposition does not trigger syntactic gemination in the following word, but the noun does.

Preposition

pro

1. (dated) for, in favor of/in favour of

Related terms

• pro capite (pro-capite, procapite)

Noun

pro m (invariable)

1. (dated) good, benefit, advantage, weal
2. pro (as in English “pros and cons”)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English pro.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɔ/^*
• Rhymes: -ɔ
• Hyphenation: prò

Noun

pro m (invariable)

1. (slang) pro

Ladin

Noun

pro m (plural pro)

1. good; benefit; advantage

Latin

Alternative forms

• ꝓ (abbreviation, Medieval Latin)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *prō, from an innovative instrumental singular *próh₁ derived from Proto-Indo-European *pró (“toward”).

Use with accusative nouns is originally by analogy to ante, amplified in Late Latin due to the merger of other cases with the accusative.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈproː/, [ˈproː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpro/, [ˈprɔː]

Interjection

pro

1. oh! alas!

Derived terms

Preposition

prō (+ ablative, accusative)

1. for
2. on behalf of, in the interest of, for the sake of
   • 6th century BC, Tibur pedestal inscription (CIL I² 2658; image (page 18)):

3. before, in front of
4. instead of
5. about
6. according to
7. as, like
8. as befitting

Usage notes

• Use with the accusative is chiefly attested from Late Latin onwards.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Italian: pro
• Sardinian: pro, po
• ⇒ Late Latin: pōr (see there for further descendants)
• → English: pro
• → Finnish: pro
• → German: pro
• → Indonesian: pro
• → Portuguese: pró

References

• “pro”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pro”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "pro", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• pro in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[4], London: Macmillan and Co.
• pro in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[5], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Latin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʀoː/
  • Rhymes: -oː

Preposition

pro

1. per

Middle English

Etymology

From Latin prō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prɔː/

Noun

pro

1. (Late Middle English, rare) advantage, benefit, upside

Descendants

• English: pro

References

• “prō, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-07-10.

Occitan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pru/

Preposition

pro

1. enough

   N'i a pro. - There is enough (of it).

2. quite

   Una rauba pro polida. - A quite pretty dress.

Old French

Etymology 1

Preposition

pro

1. (very early Old French) Alternative form of por

Etymology 2

From Late Latin prōde. Doublet of preu.

Alternative forms

• prut
• prod
• preu
• prou

Noun

pro oblique singular, m (nominative singular pro)

1. profit, advantage

Descendants

• French: prou (in the idiom peu ou prou)

Old Spanish

Etymology

From Late Latin prōde (“useful”), perhaps via Old Occitan pro.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɾo/

Noun

pro f (usually uncountable)

1. usefulness, advantage, benefit

Related terms

• por

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• prò (pre-1990 spelling)
• pró (misspelling)

Etymology

Contraction of pra o.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: pro

Contraction

pro (feminine pra, masculine plural pros, feminine plural pras)

1. (colloquial) Contraction of pra o (“for/to the (masculine singular)”).

Sardinian

Alternative forms

• po (Campidanese)

Etymology

From Latin pro.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pro/

Preposition

pro

1. for

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɾo/ [ˈpɾo]
• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification: pro

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Spanish pro, from Late Latin prōde (“useful”).

Noun

pro m (plural pros)

1. usefulness, advantage, benefit

Derived terms

Etymology 2

A recent Latinism, borrowed from Latin prō; see above. Doublet of por.

Preposition

pro

1. pro, in favor of, for

Usage notes

• Equivalent to, and often replaced with, en pro de (see en, de) or a favor de (see a, favor).

Etymology 3

A very recent anglicism, borrowed from English pro.

Noun

pro m or f by sense (plural pros)

1. pro (professional)

Adjective

pro m or f (masculine and feminine plural pro or pros)

1. pro (professional)

Further reading

• “pro”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Volapük

Preposition

pro

1. for