Standard Lemma guide

protease

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /ˈpɹəʊtɪeɪz/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P R OW1 T IY0 EY2 Z Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An enzyme that cuts or cleaves proteins.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any enzyme that catalyzes the splitting of proteins into smaller peptide fractions and amino acids by a process known as proteolysis

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: peptidase, proteinase, proteolytic enzyme

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: enzyme

Narrower terms: caspase, angiotensin converting enzyme, angiotensin-converting enzyme, ACE, plasminogen activator, urokinase, renin

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English prote(in) Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1 Proto-Indo-European *dwísder. Ancient Greek διά (diá) Ancient Greek δῐᾰ- (dĭă-) Proto-Indo-European *steh2- Proto-Indo-European *stísteh2ti Proto-Hellenic *hístāmi Ancient Greek ῐ̔́στημῐ (hĭ́stēmĭ) Ancient Greek δῐῐ̈́στημῐ (dĭĭ̈́stēmĭ) Ancient Greek δῐᾰ́στᾰσῐς (dĭắstăsĭs) English diastase English -ase English protease From prote(in) + -ase.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: proteasa — enzyme
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蛋白酶 (dànbáiméi) — enzyme
  • Czech: proteáza — enzyme
  • Finnish: proteaasi — enzyme
  • French: protéase — enzyme
  • German: Protease — enzyme
  • German: Peptidase — enzyme
  • German: Proteinase — enzyme
  • Hindi: प्रोभूजिनेद (probhūjined) — enzyme
  • Irish: próitéáis — enzyme
  • Italian: proteasi — enzyme
  • Japanese: プロテアーゼ (puroteāze) — enzyme
  • Japanese: 蛋白質分解酵素 (tanpakushitsu bunkai kōso) — enzyme
  • Kazakh: ақуызды ыдырататын фермент (aquyzdy ydyratatyn ferment) — enzyme
  • Korean: 프로테아제 (peuroteaje) — enzyme
  • Korean: 단백질 분해 효소 (danbaekjil bunhae hyoso) — enzyme
  • Polish: peptydaza — enzyme
  • Portuguese: protease — enzyme
  • Spanish: proteasa — enzyme
  • Welsh: proteas — enzyme