proto-

See also: proto, Proto, protó, and pro to

English

Alternative forms

• prot- (chemistry)
• Proto- (proper names of protolanguages and their associated people)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combination form of πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”), superlative of πρό (pró, “before”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹəʊ.təʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊ.toʊ/, [pɹoʊ.ɾoʊ]

Prefix

proto-

1. An early, primitive stage of development.

   protophysics, protometal, protoword

   • 2022 November 6, Emma Garland, “Aaron Carter was the millennium’s bubblegum bad boy – and the victim of a rapacious music industry”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     In many ways, both good and bad, he was a proto-Justin Bieber—a teenage dream to be bought and sold, with what would turn out to be very little regard for his own humanity.

2. Original, older.

   protograph, protolacteal, prototype, protoplasm

3. (ordinal) First in order; which stage is first.

   protogynous, protandrous

4. Primary.

   protoderm, protocneme

5. (linguistics, genetics) Most recent common ancestor (often hypothetical) of.

   All Indo-European languages from Albanian to Zazaki are descended from Proto-Indo-European.

6. (inorganic chemistry) A minimal proportion of a particular substance when in a combination. See protosalt.

   protoxide, protosulfide, protiodide

7. (chemistry) Relating to protons and/or positive charge.

   protophilic, protolysis

8. (anatomy) Anterior.

   prototroch, protoconid, protoconule

Synonyms

• (primitive): atelo-
• (original): ur-
• (first stage): eka-
• (primary): arch-, archi-, archo-
• (common ancestor): cen-
• (minimal): meio-
• (anterior): antero-

Coordinate terms

• deutero-, deuter-
• trito-, trit-
• tetarto-, tetart-
• eteo- (linguistics)

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with proto-

• protocarbonate
• protosymbol
• protosymbolic
• protosymbolism

words in which it has the meaning "first"

• protoethics
• protophysics
• protoplasm
• prototype
• protoindustrial
• protozoon

in linguistics, proto-languages

• Proto-Baltic
• Proto-Celtic
• Proto-Czech
• Proto-Germanic
• Proto-Greek
• Proto-Indo-Aryan
• Proto-Indo-Iranian
• Proto-Indo-European
• Proto-Italic
• Proto-Kiranti
• proto-language
• Proto-Norse
• Proto-Oceanic
• Proto-Pontic
• Proto-Semitic
• Proto-Slavic
• Proto-Turkic
• Proto-Uralic

Translations

first

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 原- (yuán-)

• Czech: proto- (cs)
• Esperanto: pra- (eo)
• Finnish: ensi-, proto-
• French: proto- (fr)
• Galician: proto- (gl)
• German: ur- (de)
• Malay: proto- (ms), purba-
• Polish: pra- (pl)
• Russian: прото- (ru) (proto-)
• Swedish: ur- (sv)

(linguistics) ancestor of a family of languages

• Bengali: প্রত্ন- (protno-)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 原始 (jyun⁴ ci²)

  Hokkien: 原始 (zh-min-nan) (Goân-sí)

  Mandarin: 原始 (zh) (Yuánshǐ)

• Czech: pra- (cs)
• Esperanto: pra- (eo)
• Finnish: kanta- (fi)
• French: proto- (fr)
• Galician: proto- (gl)
• German: ur- (de)
• Hungarian: ős- (hu), alap- (hu)
• Portuguese: proto- (pt), prot-
• Russian: пра- (ru) (pra-)
• Swedish: ur- (sv)
• Turkish: proto- (tr), ana- (tr), ön-

chemistry

• Polish: proto- (pl)

Anagrams

• Porto, Topor, Troop, porto, porto-, proot, troop, tropo, tropo-

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos).

Prefix

proto-

1. proto-

Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combining form of πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”), superlative of πρό (pró, “before”).

Prefix

proto-

1. proto-

Usage notes

• Also prot- before a vowel.

Derived terms

Italian terms prefixed with proto-

Anagrams

• -tropo, porto, portò, potrò, tropo

Latvian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combining form of πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”), superlative of πρό (pró, “before”).

Prefix

proto-

1. proto- (initial, first, original)

Usage notes

• Also prot- before a vowel

Derived terms

Latvian terms prefixed with proto-

Polish

Etymology

Derived from Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɔ.tɔ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔtɔ
• Syllabification: pro‧to

Prefix

proto-

1. (chemistry) proto-

   ‎proto- + ‎-liza → ‎protoliza

Derived terms

Polish terms prefixed with proto-

See also

• pra-

Further reading

• proto- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combining form of πρῶτος (prôtos) "first", superlative of πρό (pró) "before".

Prefix

proto-

1. proto-

Derived terms

Portuguese terms prefixed with proto-

Romanian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combining form of πρῶτος (prôtos) "first", superlative of πρό (pró) "before".

Prefix

proto-

1. proto-

Derived terms

Romanian terms prefixed with proto-

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-), combining form of πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”), superlative of πρό (pró, “before”).

Prefix

proto-

1. proto-

Derived terms

Spanish terms prefixed with proto-

Further reading

• “proto-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014