Where does “pro” come from?
Pro comes from Middle English pro, from Latin pro meaning "before" or "in front of," from Proto-Indo-European pro-, ultimately from the root per- meaning "forward" or "through."
pro (English): An advantage of something, especially when...
Definitions
- An advantage of something, especially when...
Ancestry of “pro”, step by step
pro traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English professional
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | professional | A person who belongs to a profession; A person... |
| 2 | English | profession | A declaration of belief, faith or one's opinion,... |
| 3 | Anglo-Norman | professioun | — |
| 4 | Old French | profession | profession; declaration |
| 5 | Latin | professiō | declaration, avowal, profession (act of professing) |
| 6 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 7 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 8 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 9 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 10 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 11 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 12 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 13 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |
via Spanish pro
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spanish | pro | pro, in favor of, for; pro |
| 2 | Latin | prō | for |
| 3 | Latin | ratus | considered, having been considered; established,... |
| 4 | Latin | rēōr | to reckon, calculate |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | rēōr | to reckon, to calculate; to think, to deem, to... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂reh₁- | to think, reason; to arrange |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂er- | to fit, to fix, to put together |
via Middle English pro
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | pro | advantage, benefit, upside |