Prom

How to spell prom

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce prom

What does prom mean?

1. nounA formal dance held for students, usually marking the end of a school or college year.

Prom in a sentence

• She spent weeks choosing a dress for the school prom.

• The prom committee booked a hotel ballroom for the evening.

Where does prom come from?

Language of origin: French

Prom is a casual shortening of promenade, a word English took from French in the seventeenth century. The French se promener meant 'to take a walk', and it grew out of the Latin prominare, which literally meant 'to drive animals forward'. Over time the leisurely 'walking about' sense gave promenade two lives in English: a public walkway, especially along a seafront, and a formal stroll or processional dance at a social gathering. In American schools and colleges the clipped form prom settled onto the end-of-year formal dance, where students once paraded in their finery, while in Britain prom long meant the seaside walkway and also the famous Proms concerts. The single short syllable hides this French ancestry, which is why the spelling is so simple despite the elaborate occasions it now names.

How the word is built

• shortening of 'promenade' (from French se promener, to walk; ultimately Latin prominare, to drive forward)