intro
n. countablen. a short piece of music, writing, or speech at the start of something. It is a casual way to say 'introduction'.
n. a preliminary section of a musical composition, literary work, or presentation. Informal in register; functions as a clipping of 'introduction'.
The song has a very long guitar intro.
I missed the speaker's intro because I was stuck in traffic outside the building.
While the track's atmospheric intro sets a somber tone, the energy shifts dramatically once the percussion enters in the second verse.
Clipping of introduction, from Latin intrōductiō (“lead-in, introduction”) – the abbreviation removes the second part of the compound; the first part ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁énteros (“inner, what is inside”). The demoscene sense comes from the fact that they were originally prepended to pirated copies of computer games.
Commonly used in creative industries like music, film, and publishing.