Pro- (1)

Pro- (1)

The prefix pro- has several meanings, one of which is “sticking out”. Since most words prefixed with pro have conceptual meanings, I did not find many words with this meaning. Still, there are some commonly used words: project, protrude, protuberant, and prognathous.

Project is the most basic word among these. Well, the more basic a word is, the more meaning it often has. As you know, its meanings include “a piece of particular work”, “to throw something forward”, “to calculate an amount or number expected in the future”, and so on.

Protrude, on the other hand, is probably the best word to use to literally mean “to stick out from a surface”. This could imply that something is sticking out “in an unexpected place”.

Protuberant means “protruding,” and there is little difference between the two except for frequency. There is also a verb form, “protuberate,” but it is not as commonly used as “protrude”.

The last word is prognathous. This means “having a projecting lower jaw or chin”. If you know the word “gnathology,” which means “the study of the jaw”, you can guess it easily. Prognathous is more literal than its Japanese counterpart, しゃくれ. (This may sound a little offensive.)