Standard Lemma guide

protein

noun · 4 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɹəʊ.ti.ɪn/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɹəʊ.tiːn/
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈpɹoʊ.tin/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US, dated: /ˈpɹoʊ.ti.ɪn/
  • homophone: protean
  • CMU ARPABET: P R OW1 T IY2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of numerous large, complex naturally-produced molecules composed of one or more long chains of amino acids, in which the amino acid groups are held together by peptide bonds.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

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

One of three major classes of food or source of food energy (4 kcal/gram) abundant in animal-derived foods (meat) and some vegetables, such as legumes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Qualifier: nutrition

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A food rich in protein, often a meat or meat substitute.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Qualifier: nutrition

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

any of a large group of nitrogenous organic compounds that are essential constituents of living cells; consist of polymers of amino acids; essential in the diet of animals for growth and for repair of tissues; can be obtained from meat and eggs and milk and legumes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a diet high in protein

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: macromolecule, supermolecule

Narrower terms: capsid, gluten, recombinant protein, actomyosin, aleurone, amyloid, apoenzyme, conjugated protein, compound protein, enzyme, fibrin, filaggrin, growth factor, haptoglobin, iodoprotein, iodinated protein, nucleoprotein, opsin, phosphoprotein, plasma protein, prostate specific antigen, PSA, proteome, simple protein, cytokine, ferritin, antibody

History

Etymology

From proto- + -ein. Suggested by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in a letter to Gerardus Johannes Mulder, from French protéine and German Protein, both coined based on Ancient Greek πρωτεῖος (prōteîos, “primary”), from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”).

Across languages

Translations

161 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: بْرُوتِين (brūtīn) — complex molecule
  • Armenian: սպիտակուց (spitakucʻ) — complex molecule
  • Asturian: proteína — complex molecule
  • Azerbaijani: zülal — complex molecule
  • Bashkir: аҡһым (aqhım) — complex molecule
  • Bashkir: протеин (protein) — complex molecule
  • Bulgarian: протеин (protein) — complex molecule
  • Catalan: proteïna — complex molecule
  • Chinese Cantonese: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 — complex molecule
  • Chinese Cantonese: 朊 (jyun2) — complex molecule
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 卵白質 /卵白质 (lâung-băh-cék) — complex molecule
  • Hakka Chinese: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 (thàn-pha̍k-chṳt) — complex molecule
  • Chinese: 卵白質 /卵白质 (zh-min-nan) — complex molecule
  • Chinese: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 (zh-min-nan) — complex molecule
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 (dànbáizhì) — complex molecule
  • Chinese Mandarin: 朊 (ruǎn) — complex molecule
  • Wu Chinese: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 (6de-baq-tseq) — complex molecule
  • Czech: bílkovina — complex molecule
  • Danish: protein — complex molecule
  • Dutch: proteïne — complex molecule
  • Dutch: eiwit — complex molecule
  • Esperanto: proteino — complex molecule
  • Esperanto: proteinoj — complex molecule
  • Estonian: proteiin — complex molecule
  • Estonian: lihtvalk — complex molecule
  • Finnish: proteiini — complex molecule
  • Finnish: valkuaisaine — complex molecule
  • French: protéine — complex molecule
  • Galician: proteína — complex molecule
  • German: Protein — complex molecule
  • German: Eiweiß — complex molecule
  • Greek: πρωτεΐνη (proteḯni) — complex molecule
  • Hebrew: חֶלְבּוֹן (ḥelbón) — complex molecule
  • Hindi: प्रोभूजिन (probhūjin) — complex molecule
  • Hindi: प्रोटीन (proṭīn) — complex molecule
  • Hungarian: fehérje — complex molecule
  • Hungarian: protein — complex molecule
  • Icelandic: eggjahvíta — complex molecule
  • Icelandic: hvíta — complex molecule
  • Icelandic: prótein — complex molecule
  • Icelandic: prótín — complex molecule
  • Indonesian: protein — complex molecule
  • Ingrian: valkulain — complex molecule
  • Interlingua: proteina — complex molecule
  • Irish: próitéin — complex molecule
  • Italian: proteina — complex molecule
  • Japanese: 蛋白質 (tanpakushitsu) — complex molecule
  • Japanese: プロテイン (purotein) — complex molecule
  • Kazakh: ақуыз (aquyz) — complex molecule
  • Kazakh: нәруыз (näruyz) — complex molecule
  • Khmer: ប្រូតេអ៊ីន (prouteeʼiin) — complex molecule
  • Korean: 단백질 (danbaekjil) — complex molecule
  • Central Kurdish: پرۆتین (pirotîn) — complex molecule
  • Latvian: olbaltums — complex molecule
  • Latvian: olbaltumvielas — complex molecule
  • Lithuanian: baltymas — complex molecule
  • Macedonian: белковина (belkovina) — complex molecule
  • Malay: protin — complex molecule
  • Māori: pūmua — complex molecule
  • Marathi: प्रथिन (prathin) — complex molecule
  • Mongolian: уураг (uurag) — complex molecule
  • Mongolian: ᠤᠭᠤᠷᠠᠭ (uɣuraɣ) — complex molecule
  • Pashto: پروټين — complex molecule
  • Persian: پروتئین (porote'yn) — complex molecule
  • Polish: białko — complex molecule
  • Polish: proteina — complex molecule
  • Portuguese: proteína — complex molecule
  • Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰੋਟੀਨ (proṭīn) — complex molecule
  • Romanian: proteină — complex molecule
  • Russian: бело́к (belók) — complex molecule
  • Russian: протеи́н (proteín) — complex molecule
  • Serbo-Croatian: bjelánčevina — complex molecule
  • Serbo-Croatian: belánčevina — complex molecule
  • Sicilian: prutiina — complex molecule
  • Slovak: bielkovina — complex molecule
  • Slovene: beljakovina — complex molecule
  • Spanish: proteína — complex molecule
  • Swahili: protini — complex molecule
  • Swedish: protein — complex molecule
  • Swedish: äggviteämne — complex molecule
  • Tagalog: protina — complex molecule
  • Telugu: మాంసకృత్తు (māṁsakr̥ttu) — complex molecule
  • Telugu: ప్రోటీన్ (prōṭīn) — complex molecule
  • Thai: โปรตีน (pro-teen) — complex molecule
  • Turkish: protein — complex molecule
  • Ukrainian: біло́к (bilók) — complex molecule
  • Ukrainian: протеї́н (protejín) — complex molecule
  • Vietnamese: protein — complex molecule
  • Vietnamese: prô-tê-in — complex molecule
  • Vietnamese: chất đạm — complex molecule
  • Volapük: protein — complex molecule
  • Walloon: proteyene — complex molecule
  • Walloon: blandoû — complex molecule
  • Welsh: protein — complex molecule
  • Yiddish: פּראָטעיִן (protein) — complex molecule
  • Zhuang: danbwzciz — complex molecule
  • Arabic: بُرُوتِين (borotīn) — class of food
  • Arabic: بروتين (brōtīn, prōtīn) — class of food
  • Armenian: սպիտակուց (spitakucʻ) — class of food
  • Asturian: proteína — class of food
  • Bashkir: аҡһым (aqhım) — class of food
  • Bulgarian: белтък (beltǎk) — class of food
  • Catalan: proteïna — class of food
  • Chinese Cantonese: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 — class of food
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 卵白質 /卵白质 (lâung-băh-cék) — class of food
  • Hakka Chinese: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 (thàn-pha̍k-chṳt) — class of food
  • Chinese: 卵白質 /卵白质 (zh-min-nan) — class of food
  • Chinese: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 (zh-min-nan) — class of food
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 (dànbáizhì) — class of food
  • Wu Chinese: 蛋白質 /蛋白质 (6de-baq-tseq) — class of food
  • Czech: bílkovina — class of food
  • Czech: protein — class of food
  • Danish: protein — class of food
  • Dutch: proteïne — class of food
  • Dutch: eiwit — class of food
  • Esperanto: proteino — class of food
  • Estonian: valk — class of food
  • Estonian: lihtvalk — class of food
  • Estonian: proteiin — class of food
  • Finnish: valkuainen — class of food
  • Finnish: valkuaisaine — class of food
  • Finnish: proteiini — class of food
  • French: protéine — class of food
  • Galician: proteína — class of food
  • German: Protein — class of food
  • German: Eiweiß — class of food
  • Greek: πρωτεΐνη (proteḯni) — class of food
  • Hebrew: חֶלְבּוֹן (ḥelbón) — class of food
  • Hindi: प्रोभूजिन (probhūjin) — class of food
  • Hungarian: fehérje — class of food
  • Ingrian: valkulain — class of food
  • Italian: proteina — class of food
  • Japanese: 蛋白質 (tanpakushitsu) — class of food
  • Japanese: プロテイン (purotein) — class of food
  • Khmer: ប្រូតេអ៊ីន (prouteeʼiin) — class of food
  • Korean: 단백질 (danbaekjil) — class of food
  • Latvian: olbaltums — class of food
  • Latvian: olbaltumvielas — class of food
  • Lithuanian: baltymai — class of food
  • Malay: protein — class of food
  • Malayalam: മാംസ്യം (māṁsyaṁ) — class of food
  • Mongolian: уураг (uurag) — class of food
  • Mongolian: ᠤᠭᠤᠷᠠᠭ (uɣuraɣ) — class of food
  • Polish: białko — class of food
  • Portuguese: proteína — class of food
  • Romanian: proteină — class of food
  • Russian: бело́к (belók) — class of food
  • Russian: протеи́н (proteín) — class of food
  • Serbo-Croatian: bjelánčevina — class of food
  • Serbo-Croatian: belánčevina — class of food
  • Slovene: beljakovina — class of food
  • Spanish: proteína — class of food
  • Swahili: protini — class of food
  • Swedish: protein — class of food
  • Swedish: äggviteämne — class of food
  • Thai: โปรตีน (bproo-dtiin) — class of food
  • Turkish: protein — class of food
  • Urdu: پروبھوجن (probhūjin) — class of food
  • Vietnamese: chất đạm — class of food
  • Vietnamese: prôtêin — class of food
  • Vietnamese: prô-tê-in — class of food
Real reading context

protein in complete knowledge articles