What is "prototyping"

Prototype is a working product of the testing and/or planning phase of a project. It may refer to an automobile (such as a concept car), aircraft, spacecraft, ship or any other craft, transport vehicle or engineering product, such as a port or hydropower plant, a turbine, a hydraulic pump, etc.

In Software Engineering, prototype is a system/model (a website or other software) with no intelligent functionality (access to the database, for example), and may contain only graphical functionality. Used for illustration and better understanding purposes, usually in meetings between the Systems Analysis team and the contractor.