pro tip

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Originally merely a sum of parts collocation (= professional tips), as for example in pro tips for solid joints [in woodworking] (Popular Science, March 1959), pro tips for hunting with a camera (Field & Stream, September 1978), and pro tips on the course or court from golf pros and tennis pros. In the era of videogaming, the CamelCase solidification as ProTip, a name for small pieces of gameplay advice used as screenshot captions in GamePro magazine, added a lexicalized dimension to yield a true compound. The advice in a hoax version of a ProTip for id Software's Doom ("To defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies") was so comically obvious that it later became an Internet catchphrase.

Noun

pro tip (plural pro tips)

  1. (idiomatic) A useful piece of advice.
    • 2011 April 25, Andrew Adam Newman, “Taking Pickles Out of the Afterthought Aisle”, in New York Times‎:
      Shoppers picking up ground beef, for example, encounter the stork on in-store shelf ads near the meat section, where a speech balloon near his ample beak says, "Pro tip: Serve your burgers with a Vlasic pickle. Amateur tip: Don’t."
    • 2017 May 11, Ellie Gibson, “Children and video games: a parent's guide”, in The Guardian‎:
      Pro tips on which games your child should play, how long they should play for, how to limit screen time – and what to do if their friend plays violent games

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

See also
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