the original or model on which something is based or formed.

someone or something that serves to illustrate the typical qualities of a class; model; exemplar

She is the prototype of a student activist.

something analogous to another thing of a later period

a Renaissance prototype of our modern public housing.

Biology . an archetype; a primitive form regarded as the basis of a group.

to create the prototype or an experimental model of

to prototype a solar-power car.

noun

ancestor , antecedent , antecessor , archetype , criterion , first , forerunner , ideal , mock-up , model , norm , paradigm , pattern , precedent , precursor , predecessor , standard , type , father , master , protoplast , original , sample