protologism

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.4 See also 1.5 Synonyms

[edit] English

Please note that protologism is autological (self-describing) and has no wide use outside of the Wiktionary community.

[edit] Etymology

Coined by Mikhail Epstein (and adopted by the Wiktionary community) from Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prōtos), “‘first’”) + λόγος (logos), “‘word’”), by analogy with prototype and neologism.

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /pɹəʊˈtɒlɒˌʤɪzm/

[edit] Noun

protologism (plural protologisms)

1. (Wiktionary and WMF jargon) A newly coined word or phrase defined in the hope that it will become common; a recently created term possibly in narrow use but not yet acknowledged.
   • 2005 February 15, Steve Gooch, Ceci n'est pas une^[sic] cybercarnet., at mentalspigot.com [1]

     Finally, a protologism for one of my favorite activities.

   • 2005, Geoffrey D. Falk, Stripping the Gurus, Appendix IV, Million Monkeys Press

     spoofs that I incorporated in this essay: ... coined a neologism/protologism

   • 2006 February 7, Scott Fletcher, “Podfaders in Wired Magazine”, Podcheck Review [2]

     If you're...a member of the Wikipedia police, the word “podfade” is merely neologistic protologism, not suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia.

   • 2006 March 15, Ian Morrison, “Tom Weir”, soc.culture.scottish, Usenet

     I think it is very cheeky to suggest that *our* word is a protologism when the word "protologism" itself was only invented a month ago.

   • 2006 September 12, Dwight “The Troubled Teen”, “Vocab Vacuum”, Ruminations of a Misspent Youth, at dwightthetroubledteen.blogspot.com [3]

     So what's the word for.... I need a good Sniglet or protologism.

   • 2006 December 16, Kevin Doran, "Poem in elimae", Kevin Doran [4]

     it's a visual pun, portmanteau (of sorts), and protologism.

   • 2007 April, William Skidelsky, “Will's words”, Prospect

     This word is so new-fangled that it hasn't yet been accepted as part of the language—which makes it not a "neologism" but a "protologism."

[edit] See also

• Wiktionary:Protologisms -- Definition, guidelines, and criteria for inclusion.
• Wiktionary:List of protologisms. The list may be expanded, but articles should not be created for protologisms.
• List of protologisms by topic
• Category:Protologisms where full articles erroneously exist.

[edit] Synonyms

neologism