# prologue
## English
### Alternative forms

* prolog (chiefly US)

### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈpɹəʊlɒɡ/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈpɹoʊlɔɡ/, /ˈpɹoʊlɑɡ/

### Noun

prologue (plural prologues)
* 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
** 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:“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. […] ”
* One who delivers a prologue.
** c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, “the prologue”:And hither am I come, / A Prologue arm’d, but not in confidence / Of Authors pen, or Actors voyce;
* (computing) A component of a computer program that prepares the computer to execute a routine.
* (cycling) An individual time trial before a stage race, used to determine which rider wears the leader's jersey on the first stage.
* (Eastern Orthodoxy) A liturgical book containing daily readings, including hagiography.

#### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “speech or section”): epilogue, epilog

#### Derived terms

* prologuize

#### Translations
### Verb

prologue (third-person singular simple present prologues, present participle prologuing, simple past and past participle prologued)
* To introduce with a formal preface, or prologue.
** c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC,:[…] harbindgers preceading ſtill the fates and prologue to the Omen comming on […]

#### References

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

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Old French prologue, a borrowing from Latin prologus, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόλογος (prólogos).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pʁɔ.lɔɡ/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

prologue m (plural prologues)
* prologue
    Coordinate term: épilogue

#### See also

* avant-propos

### Further reading

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

## Spanish
### Verb

prologue
* inflection of prologar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative