Prose

How to spell prose

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce prose

What does prose mean?

1. nounOrdinary written or spoken language in sentences and paragraphs, as opposed to poetry or verse.

Prose in a sentence

• The novelist was praised for her clear, elegant prose.

• The report was written in dense, technical prose that few could follow.

Where does prose come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin prosa, a shortened form of the phrase prosa oratio, meaning 'straightforward speech'. The adjective prosa was itself a contraction of prorsus or prosus, literally 'turned forward' or 'direct', built from pro- meaning 'forward' and vertere meaning 'to turn'. The idea was that ordinary written language moves straight ahead in plain sentences, in contrast to verse, which turns back on itself at the end of each measured line. English took the word in through Old French in the 1300s, keeping the sense of unmetred, everyday writing. The same vertere 'to turn' root surfaces in many familiar English words such as 'convert', 'reverse', and 'version', and the silent final -e is the main thing that separates this word from its homophone 'pros'.

How the word is built

• pros- (from Latin prosa: straightforward, direct speech)
• -e (silent stem ending)